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AMERICAN
HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
DEVOTED TO
PRACTICAL HOROLOGY.
SMITH*
"VOL. II.
NEW YORKs
Or. B. MILLE
1871,
Union Printing House, 79 John Street, N. Y.
b«
« , '^:-
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
ANSWERS :
Catalogue of Stars
Adjusting Transit
Explanation of Chronometer Escapement
Blan ^hing Silver
Key Pipes
Fitting Centre Pinions.
Rose Drill
Drilling Glass ,
Finding Length of Peudnlum
Mr. Hermann
Watch Repairing
Reduction of Alloys
Marion "Watch Factory
Height of Work Bench
Poised Levers
Crimson Watch Hands
Bronzing
Watch Book
Tenacitv of Metals
Inspired Watch
Swing Rest
Coating Iron with Copper.
Horologium
Alchemy
Diamonds
Charging Magnetic Needle ,
Filling Engraving ,
Making Pendulum
Regulating Watch with Breque^ Spring
Effect of Work on the Eyes
Inside Caliper .,
Etruscan Jewelry
Polishing
Observations
Brequet Hairspring
Bad Work
Amber
Diamond Drills
Finding Numbers for Lost Wheel
Hardening Chronometer Springs
Bond*s Chronograph
Polishing Brass Work
Straightening Arlxirs
Solution for Cleaning Silver
Prevention of Rust on Steel
Time Ball
Using Benzine instead of Alcohol
ing Transit
" to Temperature and Position . . . .105, 120, 152,
Astronomical Terms
it of Rate3 of Chronometer
Amber
Alloys of Gold 249,
Brass
Metals
Alcherr.r
'AGE
46
46
46
47
47
47
47
47
48
48
68
69
71
71
94
95
95
95
96
96
119
120
120
140
141
143
143
143
144
191
192
192
215
215
215
216
238
238
238
239
239
, 240
, 283
, 283
. 283
283
284
. 46
58
81
180
238
271
204
is}
140
Ik (oik * B
Blanching Silver 47
Benzine 284,114
Brass Alloy 204
; Watch 236
Bronzing Iron . 95
Breqnet Hair-Spring .. 215
Bid Work 2,16
Bond's Chronograph 239
CoilUKSPONDENCE : PAGE
Horological Institute — J. H 4
Electricity and Magnetism — E. S 12
Calipers 192
Chronometer Spring, to Harden 239
' ' Escapement 6, 25, 46
Chronograph 239
Calculation of Wheel Teeth 19
Coming Workmen 36
Cleaning Watches 45
Catalogue of Stars 46
Centre Pinion 47
Chronography 63
Construction of a Perfect Watch 145, 193, 217, 241, 265
Coating Iron with Copper 120
Charging Magnetic Needle 143
Crimson Watch-hands 95
D
Determining Distances 23
Drill, Rose 47
Drilling Glass 47
Drills and Taps 115
Deadbeat Escapement ' . . . . 119
Diamonds 141, 213
Diamond Drills 238
Dialing. 21,40,55,87
E
Electro-Metallurgy 69
Engraving . . 133
to Fill 158, 143
Eyes, Effect of Work Upon 191
Etruscan Jewelry 192
Enamels 252
Escapement, Chronometer 6
Electricity and Magnetism 12
Escapement, Lever 83, 103
F
Flow of Metals 333
Fork and Roller 366
Files 109
Fair of American Institute 116
Fitting Centre Pinion 47
Finding Length of Pendulums 48
" Numbers of Lost Wheel 238
G
Grossman n's Pendulum, Analyzed 31
Garlic Juice vs. Magnetism 93
Good Time 212
Gold Alloy 249, 271
H
Horological Journal, Announcement 13
Herrmann 48
Horologium 120
Hair-Spring Gauge 134
' ' Measurement 179
" Brequet 215
" to Harden 239
Heat 34, 51, 78, 99, 121, 175, 201, 223
Hole in Main Spring 135
Hardening Steel 262
Height of Work-Bench 71
CONTENTS.
Isochronal Adjustment 14
Isochron ism 39
Industrial Exposition at Altona 67
Invention 97
Inside Caliper 192
Inspired Watch 96
Jewelling 59
Jean Paul Gamier 64
K
Key Pipes 47
Latitude and Longitude into Time 23
Light 135, 165, 188, 207
Lever Escapement 83, 103
«' Poised 94
M
Magnetism vs. Garlic Juice 93
Metals, Tenacity of 96
Magnetic Needle, to Charge 143
Metals . . 160
" Alloys of 184
Monograms 264. 282
Marion Watch Factor}' 71
Making Pendulums 143
o
Opticians 163
Observations 216
Pendulum, Grossmann's Mercurial 1
Length of 48
" Grossmann's, Analyzed 31
" '• Cut-off 108
" Wooden Compensation 112
" to Make ....143
Pendulums 2«0
Pendulum Essay 169, 228, 246, 275
Pinion Measurement 62, 115, 214
Practical Education 73
Patience . 92
Plating Iron with Copper 120
Protecting Stones in Soldering 135
Peddlers. ' 213
Polishing . 215
PAGE
Polishing Brass Work 24ft
Prevention of Rust on Steel 283
R
Repairing Watches 116, 186
Regulating Watches 144
Rims, Worn ". 135
Reminiscences of an Apprentice 256, 273
Rose Drill 47
Soft Solder 44, 125
Silver Blanching 47
Staking Tool 64, 94, 113, 179
Suggestions to Watch Manufacturers 76
Swing Rest .'. 119
Sizing Pinions 214, 262, 263
Silver-Cleaning Solution 283
Straightening Arlwrs 283
Steel, to Prevent Rusting 283
Transit, to Adjust 46
" Bliss' 61
Trifles 68
Taking in Work : 77
Taps and Drills . . . 115
Travelling Opticians 163
Thermometer Irregularities r 254
Tenacity of Metals 96
Time Ball 28a
u
U. S. Watch Factory 71
Using Benzine instead of Alcohol 284
Vibratory Motion of Earth Crust 248
w
Wheel Teeth, Addendum by Co-ordinates. 126
Calculation .' 19
" Finding Numbers 238
Workmen, The Coming 36
Watch Cleaning 45
Workmen, Their Improvement 49
Watch Repairing 68, 210
WoikBsnch 72
Watch Hands. Red 95-
Brass 236
" Book 238
CONTENTS.
No. I.-JULY.
PAGE
Improved Mercurial Pendulum 1
Letter from J. Herrmann 4
Chronometer Escapement 6
Influence of Electricity and Earth Magnetism 12
American Horological Journal 13
Isochronal Adjustment of Balance Springs 14
Calculation of Wheel Teeth 19
Dialing 21
Method of Determining Distances 23
Equation of Time Table 24
No. II.-AUGUST.
Chronometer Escapement 25
Mr. Grossmann's Pendulum Analyzed 31
Heut 34
The Coming Workmen 36
Isochronism : 39
Dialing
40
Watch and Clock Oil 43
Soft Solder 44
Watch Cleaning 45
Answers to Correspondents 46
Equation of Time Table 48
No. Ill.-SEPTEMBER.
How can the Condition of the Coming Workman be
Improved 49
Heat 51
Dialing 55
Adjustment to Temperature and Position 58
Jew elling 59
John Bliss & Co.'s Improved Transit Instrument 61
Pinion Measurement C2
Ortho-Chronography 63
New Staking Tool 64
Jean Paul Gamier 64
Industrial Exposition in Altona 67
Trifles 68
Answers to Correspondents 68
Equation of Time Table 72
No. IV.-OCTOBER.
Practical Education 73
A Suggestion to Watch Manufacturers 76
Taking in Work 77
Heat 78
Explanation of Astronomical Terms relating to Time. . 81
The Lever Escapement 83
Dialing 87
Patience .. 92
Garlic Juice vs. Magnetism 93
N. Y. Watch Co 93
Staking Tools 94
Answers to Correspondents 94
Equation of Time Table 95
No. V.-NOVEMBER.
Invention 97
Heat 99
The Lever Escapement 102
Adjustments to Positions, Etc 105
Mr. Grossmann's Mercurial Pendulum 108
Files 109
A Compensated Wooden Pendulum 112
Staking Tool 113
Benzine as a Substitute for Alcohol 114
Taps and Drills 115
Pinion Measurements 115
Repairing English Watches 116
Fair of the American Institute 116
Answers to Correspondents 119
Equation of Time Table 120
No. VI.-DECEMBER.
Heat 121
Soft Solder 125
Construction of the Addendum of a Train Wheel Tooth
by Co-ordinates 126
Adjustments to Positions, Etc 129
Hair-Spring Gauge 134
Transit Instruments 134
Worn Rims 135
Light 135
Answers to Correspondents 140
Engraving 133 j Equation of Time Table 144
IV
CONTENTS.
No. VII.-JANUARY.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically
Perfect Watch— Chap. I . 145
Adjustments to Positions, Etc 152
Engraving on Jewelry and Plate 158
Metals 160
Travelling Opticians. . , 163
Light 165
Answers to Correspondents 168
Equation of Time Table 168
No. VHI.-FEBRUARY.
The Pendulum 169
Heat 175
Measuring Hair-Springs 179
Abstract of Rates of Chronometers 180
Metals and Alloys 184
Hints to Repairers 186
Light 188
Answers to Correspondents 191
Equation of Time Table 192
No. IX.-MARCH.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically
Perfect Watch 193
Correction 200
Heat 201
Brass Alloys 204
Light 207
Hints to Repairers 211
Good Time , . 213
Donation to the Museum of the Land Office 213
Jewelry Peddlers 213
Query 214
Answers to Correspondents 215
Equation of Time Table 216
No. X.-APRIL.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically
Perfect Watch 217
Heat 223
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measurement of Time. 228
Nickel 234
Watch Brass 236
Answers to Correspondents 238
Equation of Time Table 240
No. XI.-MAY.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically
Perfect Watch 241
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measurement of Time. 246
Vibratory Motion of the Crust of the Earth 248
Alloys of Gold 249
Enamels 252
Thermometer Irregularities
Reminiscences of an Apprentice 256
A Few Words on Pendulums 260
Hardening Steel 262
Sizes of Pinions 262
Answer 263
Monograms 264
254 Equation of Time Table 264
No. XH.-JUNE.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically
Perfect Watch 265
Alloys of Gold— No. 2 271
Reminiscences of an Apprentice — Making Pins 273
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measurement of Time. 275
Monogrammatic Art fS2
Answers to Correspondents 283
The Horological Journal 284
Equation of Time Table 284
AMERICAN
Horological Journal.
Yol. n.
NEW YORK, JULY, 1870
No. 1.
CONTENTS.
Improved Mercurial Pendulum, 1
Letter from J. Herrmann, 4
Chronometer Escapement, 6
Influence of Electricity and Earth Magnetism, 12
American Horological Journal, 13
Isochronal Adjustment of Balance Springs, . 14
Calculation of Wheel Teeth, 19
Dialing, 21
Method of Determining Distances, 23
Equation of Time Table, 24
* m * Address all communications for Horological
Jottbnax to G. B. Miller. P. 0. Box 6715, New York
, Office 229 Broadway, Room 43.
A NEW IMPROVED MERCURIAL PENDULUM.
No. 11 of your Journal contains a commu-
nication from Mr. Coffinberry, treating of
compensation pendulums. I perfectly agree
with Mr. Coffinberry, that it is a great draw-
back in the mercurial pendulum, that the
greater diameter of the column of mercury
prevents its being affected and penetrated by
changes of temperature as quickly as the
comparatively thin rod which it is intended
to compensate. But besides this, there is a
defect of much more serious character in this
pendulum, arising from the different heights
in which the compensating parts of it are
situated ; the one extending from the point
of suspension to about f of the total length
of the pendulum, while the other occupies a
short part of the lower end. A simple experi-
ment will give evidence that these two com-
pensating elements are existing in essentially
different temperatures. If you suspend two
thermometers on a wall, the one three feet
higher than the other, it will be found that
in an artificially heated room the upper ther-
mometer shows about 3° R. (=7 Fahr.)
more heat than the lower one, in accordance
with well known physical laws. For these
two combined reasons, the mercurial pendu-
lum which performs admirably in an astro-
nomical observatory, generally fails in parlors
and inhabited rooms. In this particular
point the gridiron pendulum offers better
chances, because its compensiting elements
accompany each other nearly in their entire
length.
Theoretically, the mercurial pendulum is
the most perfect compensation, performing
entirely without any frictional resistance,
whereas the gridiron pendulum is, to a cer-
tain extent, liable to acting by jerks ; for it
can be seen that each expansion of the rods
is at first checked by the friction in the
traverse pieces, and produces a slight de-
flection of the rods, till the tension of these
latter overcomes the friction.
Considering the great advantages to be
hoped from the general employment of the
mercurial pendulum, only checked by its
above-mentioned deficiencies, I thought it an
object well deserving earnest study, and
made it long since the theme of my medi-
tations in my leisure hours. I hope it will
not be without interest for your readers to
have the results placed before them, and I
also trust that those horologists who have a
rich experience in this matter will not think
me arrogant when I state it as my opinion
that Graham's mercurial pendulum is open
to essential improvement. The question to
consider is, whether the above-mentioned im-
perfections are inseparable from the nature
of the mercurial pendulum, and I think the
best way for investigating this matter will be
to treat it analytically.
1. /->• there any reason or necessity for con-
structing the mercurial pendulum with only one
jar t.
According to my opinion, there is not the
slightest necessity for it ; on the contrary,
several important advantages may be ex-
pected by distributing the mercury in more
than one jar. The latter will then be thinner
and expose a greater surface to the surround-
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ing air, and thus the mercury will be more
sensitive to any change of temperature.
Besides, there is not so much resistance
opposed to a thin jar cleaving the air as to
a thick one, and also the eddying of the mer-
cury in a small jar is nothing compared to
that in a wide one.
It is surprising, however, that notwithstand-
ing these evident deficiencies, the mercurial
pendulum of Graham's arrangement has
maintained itself in so great favor in Eng-
land. The French have been more aware of
its weak points, and their best makers con-
struct their mercurial pendulums with 4 jars.
The mercurial pendulum of Mr. Winnerl
(Paris) has 4 glass jars and may be called a
good arrangement. In Saunier's " Treatise
on Modern Horology," of which you speak
in some of your last numbers with well-
deserved praise, there is an illustration and
short description of the mercurial pendulum
of Mr. S. Vissiere (Havre), constructed with
the same number of glass jars, but striking
by the exquisite grace and elegance of its
arrangement, without sacrificing any scienti-
fic advantage, as any one may suppose who
is acquainted with the leading principles of
Mr. Vissiere in his horological productions.
I also saw by the kindness of an horological
friend in the United States some small wood-
cuts of clocks manufactured by Messrs. How-
ard & Co., Boston. Their mercurial pendu-
lums have 3 jars, and show that they have
also emancipated themselves from the Gra-
ham tradition.
2 What material is most suitable for making
the jars?
Most of the English makers prefer iron.
Some have a jar of cast-iron, which I do not
think altogether safe, on account of the
porosity of this material, and the readiness
with which mercury penetrates through the
smallest openings. This point, however>
seems to be settled by experience. "Wrought-
iron or steel is more desirable, and in our
time there is hardly any difficulty in getting
it of a proper shape for the purpose. Most
of the other metals are out of question here,
because they enter into chemical action with
mercury — even gold and silver not excepted.
Glass jars give a nice appearance to the
pendulum by exhibiting the metallic gloss of
the mercury, and at the same time its height
and movement in the jars. They also facili-
tate the detection of the air bubbles in the
mercury, so injurious to the effect of compen-
sation, which can only be avoided by the
utmost care in filling the jars. Glass, on the
other hand, is rather liable to injury, rather
difficult to get of uniform thickness through-
out, and what may be considered the worst
of all, it is a bad conductor of heat, thereby
retarding the effects of temperature on the
mercury. It has been said in favor of the
glass that its expansive ratio is much below
that of iron, and hence the effect of the linear
dilatation of the column of mercury not so
much lessened in the glass jar, and conse-
quently the height of mercury required in
the glass jar will be less than that which an
iron one would necessitate. This ai'gument
weighs not very heavy, for I conclude from
the circumstances above exposed that it is
desirable to have the mercury columns of the
greatest height attainable. Besides, the ex-
pansive ratio of glass is rather variable
according to its composition, while that of
iron is more reliable.
For these reasons I incline to the belief
that iron jars are preferable for a mercurial
pendulum for scientific purposes. If brass
and zinc were not liable to deterioration by
mercury they would be better still, because
their greater expansive ratio demands a still
more increased height of mercury.
3 What material is best adapted for the pen-
dulum rod ?
In this particular point, so far as I know
of, all makers coincide in the employment of
steel. Steel is a very rigid material and there-
for requires but little thickness to make a
sufficiently solid rod. The expansive ratio of
steel is one of the lowest of all the metals
which might be thought of for this purpose.
Thus, if a thin rod and a short column of
mercury were wished for, there would un-
doubtedly not exist any better material for
the rod than steel. But it seems that we
ought to search for the contrary in order to
improve the mercurial pendulum, for the con-
ditions of compensation will be all the better
if the rod is of the same thickness, or nearly
.so, with the jars, and if the columns of mer-
cury are of the greatest height obtainable.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
From this point of view, I thought I would
select a material of great expansive ratio; and
of all metals practically applicable here, zinc,
expanding three times as much as steel, will
answer best. The very inferior strength and
rigidity of this material is no impediment to
employing it, since we consider a thick rod
advantageous for a uniform penetration of
the compensating elements by the changes of
temperature. The liability of the zinc rod to
bending may be overcome by making it a
drawn hollow tube and inserting a rod of iron
or steel inside.
This arrangement, by the greater weight of
the rod and by the required increase of height
of the mercury columns, tends to raise the
centre of gravity of the pendulum, which at
the same time is its centre of oscillation, ma-
terially higher than it is situated in Graham's
mercurial pendulum, and consequently a pen-
dulum constructed on the principles above
described, for vibrating seconds, must be es-
sentially longer than Graham's. But even this
is no disadvantage, especially in the United
States, where a taste for clocks with large
dials prevails, for the pendulum ought to be
as much as possible in proportion to the dial.
4. What relative size of jar is the best ?
When employing three, foiir, or more jars,
it might seem advantageous to make the mid-
dle of greater diameter than the outside ones,
in order to diminish the resistance of air to
the vibrating movement of the pendulum.
This advantage, however, is of no great im-
portance, because the resistance of the air is
very nearly a constant figure, and, on the
other hand, it would be a serious impediment
to a good compensation if one or several of
the jars were wider than the other ones, be-
cause their contents would not receive changes
of temperature with the same readiness as
the others. Besides, the different capillarities
of the jars might also introduce irregularities
not easily accessible to calculation. There-
fore I think it best to have all the jars the
same width. A mercurial pendulum thus
arranged will certainly be much less under
the influence of the resistance of air than one
with only one jar.
The above considerations have led me to
the construction of a new mercurial pendu-
lum of about the following dimensions :
kilogs. millm. Eug. in.
Weight of mercury columns. 450 = 17.7
Diameter 16.5 = 0. G5
Weight of mercury 5. 2
Outer diameter of the 4 iron
jars • 18.5 = 0.73
Weight of the 4 iron jars ... 1.0
do. frame 0.83
Thickness of zinc rod 17.5 = 0.69
Weight of do 1 73
Total length of pendulum . . about 12.30 = 48.43
Total weight 8.26
It will be easily seen that this arrangement
has the following advantages:
1. Equal thickness of the compensating
parts, and, in consequence of this, equal sen-
sibility of the same to changes of temperatui'e.
(The trifling difference between the diameter
of zinc rod and that of iron jars or tubes will
be made up by the greater heat-conducting
power of the iron. )
2. Considerable diminution of the defect of
compensation in the mercurial pendulum,
arising from the difference of temperature in
the different heights in which the compen-
sating elements are moving. In Graham's
mercurial pendulum the mercury constitutes
about the sixth part of the length of the
pendulum, while the rod, beginning above
the mercury, makes up the other five-sixths
of it. The above-described improved mer-
curial pendulum has its zinc rod passing
through the frame down to the lower end of
the pendulum, and the mercury column con-
stitutes more than one-third of the total
length.
3. Reduction of the resistance of the air to
the least amount.
The correction of the compensating power
of a mercurial pendulum is rather trouble-
some, especially for smaller differences, and
besides the loss of time, it is always fol-
lowed by an alteration of rate, owing to the
addition or reduction of mercuiy. To ob-
viate these difficulties, I have adjusted into
the hollow of the top end of the zinc rod
a rod of brass, carrying at its top end the
suspension hook. This brass rod occupies
a length of about three inches in the zinc
tube, and both parts have a number of holes
all through, in distances of about one-fourth
of an inch, and exactly corresponding with
each other. If a pin is put through the
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
topmost of these holes, the acting length of
the zinc rod and consequently the compen-
sating power of the pendulum is greatest. By
transferring the pin to any lower hole, a
corresponding length of brass is substituted
for the same length of zinc, and thus the
effects of compensation diminished. The
expansive ratio of zinc and brass being not
very different, this connection will be found
sufficiently delicate for very small changes in
the compensating power, while it is very easy
to operate.
I must confess that I have not had suffi-
cient leisure yet to test the performance of
the pendulum made according to these prin-
ciples, but I think the theoretical principles
of it safe enough. At any rate, I believed the
matter of sufficient importance to submit it
to the criticism of the horological community,
after having taken the necessary steps for
secui'ing patent rights for this improvement.
MORRITZ GrROSSMANN,
Watch Manufacturer.
Galshute, Saxony, May 15, 1870.
LETTER FROM MR. J. HERRMANN, OF LONDON.
Editor" Horological Journal :
Sir, — Permit me to thank you for the re-
mittance of the Horological Journals, and
the opportunity thus afforded me by your
kindness to peruse their contents, which has
been to my great pleasure and satisfaction.
Apart from every sense of personal honor,
I feel indebted to you for the notice you have
bestowed on my paper, entitled The British
Horological Institute, etc., in your valuable Jour-
nal, and for the manner you have treated
your extracts therefrom, in the March num-
ber— that being the last I have — thereby
supplementing my labors to effect the practi-
cal adoption of a proposition from which I
sincerely believe great benefit will acrue, and
aiding my desire to see such extended upon
perfect international principles to all horolo-
gists.
I cannot claim the honor of a visit to
America, neither did I inquire for or take
notice of any facts bearing on the subject,
beyond those which were open to my person-
al observation ; therefore, in as far as my re-
marks apply to a state of things there, they
are not due to any interest or purpose on my
part, but simply to a coincidence of circum-
stances. Believing that simple exposure of
any evil, without the application of active
stimulants for good, has rather a negative
than a positive tendency, I had no object in
parading these facts, further than to prove
my position in advancing the proposition,
that there is a need of better measures, and
that the result it promises is desirable.
Therefore I do not stop to inquire if the
American horological trade is in a better or
worse condition than the British or any other,
but is it in any position that will still admit
of benefit to its members, by the adoption of
my proposition ?
Eliciting an affirmative answer to this ques-
tion from your Journal, I at once disregard
all negative difference, looking for and desiring
a positive equality.
For this reason — having given this subject
serious thoughts — I hope you, sir, and your
readers will not consider me assuming if I
state that I should be happy to address you
again on this point at some future period.
Your closing remarks in your article on
Horological Institutes, page 274, running thus :
"We would like to put this lecture of Mr.
Herrmann's before every watch repairer in
the land, and we are of opinion that there
would be a large demand for works on geom-
etry, and the American Horological Jour-
nal," remind me of circumstances about
which I would beg your indulgence for a few
further observations.
That the proposition will tend to a more
scientific education among apprentices and
workmen, is a principal point in its basis.
That such tendency will result in a demand
for channels of information, I have no doubt ;
but I will not speculate with your valuable
space about this question, nor inquire whether
a horological workman requires such or not,
asking you. sir, and your readers, for the sake
of my argument, to grant the supposition
(no matter whether real or assumed) that
such is needful. Out of this basis rises the
question : How is he to obtain it ? or how is
such to be imparted to him ? I may here
state, that I treat this question in a narrow
sense ; that is, the diffusion of scientific
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
knowledge for practical purpose apart from
intellectual cultivation ; although it must
tend to this in effect, yet here I make it secon-
dary Science is, so to say, a large garden,
from which the bouquet of horological science
is gathered. To do this presupposes a knowl-
edge which cannot be possessed by an un-
cientific workman, and hence, as this mat-
ter stands, a horological student is compelled
to study almost the whole of the sciences in
order to find such problems, theories, and
axioms, as are applicable to horology, and are
of assistance to him in his daily labors. I
should be the last to advise any workman not
to acquire a knowledge of the whole of the
sciences ; but this is of course an undertak-
ing requiring labor and perseverance that
very few would be inclined to devote to it.
What, therefore, is necessary is to put a collec-
tion of the sciences, applicable to, and apphed
to horological objects before the workman.
By such a method men of ordinary intellec-
tual capacity and perseverance — both not
being synonymous — would have an easy op-
portunity to obtain some of the most useful
scientific knowledge ; while at the same time
none would be prevented from rising to the
highest scientific eminence.
For example : if I take up a book on me-
chanical or civil engineering, I find that in
the outset, the reader — or here better called
student — is made acquainted with definitions
of terms, and demonstrations of facts, upon
which subsequent propositions and calcula-
tions are based, so that it is possible for the
student to comprehend all subjects under dis-
cussion. If, on the the other hand, I take up
any work on horology, I find a total departure
from this method ; either it is endeavored to
pursue a mode of explanation that is super-
ficially intelligible throughout, or occasionally
the reader is all at once brought face to
face with scientific terms, and mathematical
formulas, which will perplex and annoy him,
but convey no meaning to him. If we con-
sider the principle of the two methods for a
moment, we shall easily detect the preemi-
nence of the former over the latter. By the
first, the student is supplied with a basis to
reason out and calculate, and prove the the-
ory and subjects as they are brought before
him ; by the latter, he has no other means
than to take for granted what he sees in
black and white. Should proportions be
given in plain figures, he then may prove them
in solid material, which is a slow, tedious,
and expensive method. By the first, all the
powers of the intellect are employed; by the
latter, memory only; hence the former is sci-
entific education, while the latter never can
be. For these reasons there is a special
opening for horological publications, treating
its subjects in such a manner ; it would open
a new field of interest to many readers, and
likewise so create a demand, and, on the whole,
effect a large amount of good.
It is upon this basis that I pursue my
instructions to the classes at the British Horo-
logical Institute. Having been apprenticed
to the watch trade and engaged at it ever
since, I have the advantage over a professed
science teacher in a practical knowledge of
what a workman requires ; hence, I put be-
fore him first, the knowledge of such science
only that he will require for horological sub-
jects, and then its application. To give ex-
amples would require no less than actual
demonstration, for which I should have to
give definitions or fall into the same fault that
I have been condemning; therefore I conclude
with this subject by a promise to send you an
address upon technical instruction, delivered
at the British Horological Institute, which
will be published in next number, leaving you,
sir, to make such use of it as you think it
worth. Begging your indulgence for occu-
pying so much of your valuable space,
I am, Sir,
Yours, etc.,
J. Herrmann.
London, May 19, 1870.
[We perfectly agree with Mr. Herrmann
in his plan of imparting instruction, and hope
he will take an early opportunity of stating
his proposition more at length, believing that
a large majority of our readers would gladly
avail themselves of his practical teachings.
So far as the "trade" is concerned in this
country, their interest in the entire subject
extends as far as their profits are concerned,
and no farther ; but there are a large num-
ber of intelligent woi'kmen who are seeking
every means of self-improvement, and it is to
them we look for a better state of things.]
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
THE CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT.
There is an opinion prevalent among a
large number of the watch-carrying commu-
nity, as to the chronometer escapement, that
it is not the most reliable one for pocket use.
The greater number of watchmakers, too,
from having had troublesome experiences
with it, are perhaps of the same mind. The
argument for this opinion derives its greatest
strength probably from the fact that so many
pocket chronometers have failed to give satis-
faction to their owners, because of their fre-
quent stopping, or tripping, as it is expressed,
and even experienced workmen have often
failed to remedy the evil. While such is the
case, it is nevertheless well known that among
the best manufacturers of the world the good
chronometer is considered as their finest pro-
duction; that only the most skilful workmen
are intrusted with them, and that wherever
the most reliable time is required, the chro-
nometer is used. It is admitted that for sta-
tionary use it is all that, but for pocket use,
where it is necessarily subject to irregular
external influences, it is claimed that other
escapements, the lever particularly, is much
better suited. This might be tested, and the
reputation of the good chronometer vindica-
ted as not any more liable to err under the
same circumstances; but that is not the object
of this article.
Now, it is the writer's conviction, that the
cause of so many chronometers being trouble-
some to the wearers has its foundation in an
erroneous construction of some of the parts
of their escapements; and the reason why so
many workmen are unable to remove it lies
in the misfortune of their not possessing a
knowledge of the correct principles of the
escapement; hence are not able to detect
faults, particularly when such are primary
ones. It is to this class of chronometers that
the following is devoted, and respectfully sub-
mitted to the reader.
Not all chronometers are troublesome, and
this alone ought to lead the workman to re-
flect. Next, we can easily distinguish the
make and class of chronometers which are
troublesome, and that will give us the means
of comparison. Badly constructed escape-
ments will often go for a long time without
stopping or giving any trouble, and therefore
the mere running of a watch cannot be taken
as a proof of its being correctly built ; but
when a watch does stop it is a positive evi-
dence that something about it is not right,
and the workman will not be able to discover
the wrong unless he has a correct standard to
compare it with.
The escapement, when correct, is, like every
other part of the watch, constructed accord-
ing to correct geometrical and philosophical
principles, the knowledge of which can be the
workman's only safe standard. Now there
are a number of chronometers of different
makers, among which the well-known " Cow-
deroy" and "Dixon" are perhaps most prom-
inently known as troublesome ones. If we
take one of these and compare it with a
"Frodsharn," a " Jurgensen," or with one of
Morritz Grossniann's model chronometers, as
samples, we will find, if everything else in
the construction of the escapement as to prin-
ciple is alike, a difference in the shape and
form of the impulse roller. The illustrations
will show that difference and serve to ex-
plain the consequences thereof.
Fig. 1 shows the development of the two
main levers of the escapement and the shape
of the roller, according to sound principles.
For any given centre distance of escape wheel
and balance, with a view to obtain a certain
amount of leverage, the relative sizes of wheel
and roller are found in the following man-
ner :
It is desired to obtain a leverage impulse of
40°. G, the centre of wheel, and C, the centre
of the balance, are connected by a line, T, the
distance of which may be ad libitum. The
wheel has fifteen teeth, therefore the distance
between the points of two teeth is 3Ty> °=24°.
These 24° are laid out by means of a protrac-
tor to 12° on each side of the line T, and indi-
cated by lines a. Now in addition to the 40°
impulse desired, there must be added 5° for
the necessary fall, making together 45°, which
are also laid out equally on each side of the
line T, but from the centre c, and marked by
lines b. Through the points of intersection
of these four lines, circles are drawn from the
centres G and C, in the peripheries of which
the exact proportionate sizes of roller and
wheel are found. The roller jewel, L, must be
AMEEICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
set so that its leverage surface, o o, exactly
coincides with a straight line to the centre of
the roller.
The inclination of the teeth of the wheels
to a straight line from the centre of the
wheel is generally from 25° to 27° (in dia-
gram 26°), and from this it will be seen that
when the roller jewel comes to the position
of 5° in front of the tooth, at which time the
unlocking of the detent takes place and the
wheel falls, the two front surfaces of tooth
and jewel will exactly coincide; the tooth will
neither fall on its point nor with its front
surface on the point of the jewel, either of
which cannot but be injurious.
Now for the hollow in the roller which per-
mits the passage of the tooth during the
impulse ; and here is where the troublesome
chronometer is generally found wanting. The
hollow must be deep enough to allow a tooth
of the wheel to pass through without touch-
ing, must extend over an arc of the circum-
ference of the roller of 45° (or the degrees of
leverage obtained) and be distributed so that
two-thirds of it will be from o, the point of
the roller jewel, to m, the commencement of
the hollow, and the other third from o to n,
back of the jewel, which will give a space of
90° hollow in front of the jewel and 15° on
the back of it. The philosophy of this is as
follows : When the balance is slowly moved
in the direction from m to n, and the unlock-
ing jewel in the small roller forms the requi-
site angle with the impulse jewel in the large
roller, the tooth in waiting for the impulse
will always fall upon the jewel when 5° in
front of it ; but when the balance is allowed
to move freely, the velocity which it attains
after a few impulses will carry it beyond that
point, and the tooth will fall through more
8
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
than 5° of the arc of the roller. Now it must
be borne in mind that the whole movement
of the wheel is intercepted between each suc-
cessive vibration of the balance, and that,
however small that may be, the motive power
has to overcome a certain amount of inertia
in the train after every interception, during
which time the balance is moving at an
increased rate. Suppose, then, the vibration
of the balance to have increased to arcs of
400° or more ; the velocity with which it moves
then, taking into consideration, too, that it
becomes greatest at the centre of oscillation,
which is the point where the jewel passes the
wheel tooth, will probably carry it to or be-
yond the line of centre of impulse before the
tooth actually gives the impulse, or even
actually falls. In that case the tooth will be
22^° of the arc of the roller behind the im-
pulse jewel, and will require that much or
more hollow in the roller in front of the jewel
in order to clear the point m of the roller in
its fall ; for perfect safety 30° is given it.
By a glance at Fig. 2, which is as near as
possible a true representation of the shape of
the roller, as well as the position of the im-
pulse pallet of those troublesome chronom-
eters, and comparing the above principles
with it, it will at once be apparent to the work-
man what the whole difficulty is, and what
must cause their tripping.
In Fig. 2, the jewel B is so placed that the
centre of it (not the leverage surface) is in a
straight line to the centre of the roller ; and
in A it is still worse, standing at an angle to
the Hue, on account of which it will dig out
the front surface of the tooth when receiving
the impulse ; both have but 30° or little more
hollow, which at B is divided in half by the
front surface of the jewel, and at A not much
better. If now, under the above described
circumstances, the jewel will, by reason of the
velocity of the balance be, carried to the line
of centre or beyond before it receives the
impulse, both Mall inevitably collide at the
point m of the roller and the tooth about to
give the impulse, having but 15° or little more
clearance ; and hence it is that such chronom-
eters will trip more easily when the vibra-
tions of the balance are increased. Now it
may be that many chronometers with rollers
as in Fig. 2 do not stop ; if the train of the
watch is a good one, and every thing else per-
fect so that there is no impediment to a free
and perfect transmission of the motive power,
it may go without stopping ; but the roller is
nevertheless constructed badly, and when a
watch does stop with such a roller, in all
cases a new one must be made, to insure suc-
cess.
There may be other defects in escapements
which may cause their stopping, but seldom
such radical ones, as the above. The little gold
unlocking spring on the detent must be long
enough, so that its angular motion effected
upon it by the small roller will insure a per-
fect unlocking, yet not so much as to inter-
fere with the free vibration of the balance any
more than cannot be avoided. The locking
surface of the jewel in the detent should form
an angle of 12° with a straight line from the
centre of the wheel, but in Swiss chronom-
eters, where the locking jewel takes the
second tooth of the wheel from the roller, and
the line of the detent back of the jewel forms
at the locking point a right angle with a line
from the centre of the wheel, the locking sur-
face of the jewel must be almost in a straight
line to the centre of the wheel, and in the
best escapements it is found to be so. In all
cases the end of the unlocking spring must
point directly to the centre of the balance
staff when at rest, and to whatever curve it
may have been necessary to bend it to suit
circumstances, the extremity of it, which is
acted upon by the unlocking jewel in the
small roller, must again coincide with the
straight line of the detent back of its jewel.
The tooth of the wheel at rest upon the lock-
ing jewel in the detent, should never take
more than one-fourth of the width of the
jewel. Never work at the detent spring of a
chronometer, unless the above conditions are
not found in it ; one which has never been
meddled with is generally in order, for a work-
man who is not able to make one right, would
not be employed by manufacturers on such
escapements.
When an escapement of the preceding
troublesome class is to be remedied, a new
roller must be made. The workman who is
called upon to remedy it may not have any
experience in making them ; and as the writer
would recommend to such to learn how to
American horological journal.
make them, he will proceed to give him the
necessary instructions.
First of all, the exact size of the roller must
be determined ; for this, I would not trust to
the size of the old one, but proceed in the
following manner — premising that the work-
man is provided with standard measures on
the metric system, as by far the most con-
venient ones : Measure the diameter of the
wheel accurately (the tables of measurement
in Grossmann's prize essay on the lever escape-
ment, which every workman ought to possess,
will greatly facilitate this); increase its dia-
meter by ten or twenty times, and draw on
paper a circle of the diameter of such in-
creased size ; then measure the distance from
the centre of the wheel, the pivot-hole, to the
pivot-hole of the balance staff with a good
depthing tool, and increase it also by ten or
twenty times, and indicate such increased
distance by a line drawn from the centre of
the circle outward, and call it line T as in
Fig. 1. Now, as in Fig. 1, lay out by means
of a good protractor 24° from the centre of
the circle to 12° on each side of the line T
corresponding to lines a in Fig. 1 ; through
the points of intersection of these lines and
the circle, and from the outside end of the
line T, draw the lines b, as also a circle, and
you have found at once the amount of lever-
age of the escapement and the size of roller
required. Now measure the diameter of the
last circle, which is the relative size of the
roller, and divide it by ten or twenty, which-
ever you increased the others with, and the
quotient will give you the actual diameter of
the roller required. The same accurate result
could be obtained by trigonometrical calcula-
tions, but would require much more experi-
ence in calculation. The object of increasing
the measurements, as will be seen, is simply
to magnify the operation. Now set the ob-
tained diameter of roller down so as not to
forget it, together with the amount of lever-
age found, the latter of which will be the
necessary width of the hollow required for
the roller.
Next, take the best English round steel, of
sufficiently larger size than the roller re-
quired, so as to allow it to be turned up true ;
saw a piece off and file it flat on both sides,
and as near to an even thickness as possible.
This piece must now be bored and turned up
true, which, if the workman is provided with a
foot lathe, can best be done on what is called
a drum chuck. This chuck is illustrated in
Fig. 3, and as it is an inestimably valuable
appendage to the lathe, the workman should
at once make one. Fig. 3 shows the side and
front view of the chuck ; it is a common
English barrel, fitted to a small lap chuck of
the lathe so as to run perfectly true. The
lid, as will be seen from the cut, can be re-
moved for the purpose of cementing the
work on to it, or examining the same. No
better chuck could be used for making jewels,
as the lid can be reversed and the other side
of the jewel opened without removing it from
the cement. For this purpose the seat for
the lid in the barrel must run perfectly true,
and this is accomplished in the following
manner : First, turn the hole in the lid
perfectly true on the universal lathe, and with
as thin a cutter as will stand the pressure ;
then gently stretch the outside of the lid by
hammering it a little all around the circum-
ference ; now turn up a common brass chuck,
no matter of how much less diameter than
the lid, so that on the end of it you have a
projecting centre, like an arbor, perfectly
cylindrical, and filling the hole in the lid
accurately ; not too tight or loose, so as to
allow it any play, and be careful that the back
of the chuck which is intended for a bearing,
is exactly at right angles with its sides ; and
on to this chuck you now cement the lid with
a little shellac, turning the spindle while you
are cementing it, and taking care that you
bring it solidly against the bearing of the
chuck ; when cool, turn the circumference of
the lid up square and true until it fits the
barrel again, but not too tightly. When this
is done, remove it ; put it into the barrel,
centre it from the hole in the lid on the
universal lathe again, and turn the lower hole
true correspondingly. The lower surface of
the barrel, as also the front surface of the
lap chuck on to which you want to secure the
barrel, must also be turned off perfectly true.
This can best be done by means of a slide
rest, if the workman has one with his lathe.
Now, the chuck must be centred, and a hole
bored into it sufficiently large to admit a plug
that will, after being turned up true, fit the
10
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
lower hole in the barrel perfectly, so as not
to have to be forced on, nor to have any play
when on it. On to this chuck you now secure
the barrel by means of three screws equidistant
from each other, and in a common circle from
the centre, and as far from it as conveniently
can be done ; this done, pull out the plug
which was used for a centre of the barrel,
when the whole chuck is finished, and the
workman will never regret the trouble of
making it.
If, then, the workman has such a chuck,
the piece of steel intended for the roller must
now be cemented on to the lid, which, for
convenience, can be taken off; and care
must be had not to put too much cement on ;
move the piece a little to and fro while the
cement is yet warm, applying at the same
time a little pressure with a sharp steel, and
leave it as near as possible in the centre of the
lid ; then put the lid into the chuck, applying
again a little heat to it, and centre it perfectly
by the outside of the piece. It must now
be bored ; and to obtain a perfectly true hole
it should be finished, boring with a small
fixed cutter used on the slide rest ; or if the
workman has none to his lathe, he can re-
move the lid and do the same on the universal
lathe. The exposed side of the roller must
now be turned up true, then cemented the
reverse way to the lid, and the other side
turned true ; taking care that it remain
still thick enough for grinding and polish-
ing.
When this is done, the piece must be re-
moved, cleared of the cement, and another
common brass chuck must be turned up
somewhat smaller in diameter than the re-
quired size of the roller when finished, and
in the same way as before done, for the pur-
pose of turning up the barrel lid true — the
arbor point at the end of it fitting the hole in
the roller (which must previously have been
very nearly adjusted to the balance staff), so
that it will go on without forcing, and come
up square against the bearing of the chuck ;
cement the roller on to it, and turn it to very
nearly the calculated diameter. If the work-
man has no foot lathe, the whole operation
can be performed with equal precision on the
universal lathe. The roller must now be
removed from the chuck, cleared again from
cement, and the incision for the place of the
jewel must be cut. This should be done on a
gear cutting machine, if the workman can get
access to such an one ; and with a cutter
which will make an incision as wide as the
jewel is thick, so that it will fit in without
forcing. Examine the machine, whether the
axis of the spindle, which holds the cutter
is perfectly horizontal, and at right angles with
a line through the centre of the machine.
Now, through the centre of the roller
draw a line all across the upper surface
with a sharp steel ; secure it upon the
centre of the machine so that this line
will coincide with a line through the centre
of the machine and at right angles with
the cutter spindle; set the latter so that the
cutter will make the incision on the right
hand side of the line across the roller and
just grazing that line ; move the rest which
carries the cutter spindle up so that the cut-
ter will just touch the circumference of the
roller, then mark on the base of the machine
on which the rest moves the place by a sharp
line drawn across the bar, and move the
rest up towards the roller by the feeding
screw just the length of the jewel, and pro-
ceed to cut the incision by one single cut. If
the workman cannot have access to a gear
cutting machine, he can do it in the following
manner : Prepare two little steel bars, file
them flat to pretty nearly the thickness of the
roller, make them perfectly straight and
square, and after hardening them, smooth
one side of each by grinding them on a
smooth flat stone, then lay them over the rol-
ler, so that the smooth sides will face each
other, and one of them just up to the line on
the roller, the other parallel to it, just the
distance of the thickness of the jewel from it,
and fasten them in the vice, leaving the rol-
ler to extend above it (the vice) just the length
of the jewel; then with a saw of the right
thickness the incision can be made, care
being had that it be made on the right side
of the line across the roller ; when this is
done, a hole must be bored through the rol-
ler directly opposite the centre of the hollow
which is to be made for the purpose of ena-
bling you to poise the roller. It should be
made as far from the centre as possible with-
out breaking out into the circumference of it;
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
11
and here it must be remembered that the
point of the jewel must be exactly in the cir-
cumference of the roller which has been ob-
tained by calculation, and the roller after-
ward polished so much smaller, that when it
is in action the wheel teeth have one degree
play. The roller is now ready (if the jewel
fits it rightly) to be hardened and blued.
"When tempered, the next thing to be
done is the polishing of the circumference;
this should be done on a live spindle,
and on the same chuck upon which it
was turned up, and by means of a swing
frame attachment, as described on page 118,
No. 4 of the Journal (and this is another
appendage to the lathe which every workman
should make or have made). There are other
ways of polishing up a circumference true,
without a lathe, but much more troublesome;
and as pretty nearly every watchmaker now
has a lathe of some kind, or ought to have
one, the writer thinks it unnecessary to de-
scribe them. When the circumference is
polished, as well as the edges taken off and
polished, the roller must be finally adjusted
to the balance staff. Next, the hollow in the
roller must be made, and to do this right,
the workman may proceed in the following
manner : As before stated, the hollow must
extend over an arc of the roller equal to the
amount of the degrees of leverage in the
escapement. Now, an arc of such extent
must be measured off on the roller in this
way : Suppose it is an arc of 45°, then 360°
are to 45° as the circumference of the circle
to the length of the arc ; we can find the cir-
cumference of the roller by measuring its
diameter and multiplying it by 3.141592, then
UjTjp X 45°. Or, by another rule : The cir-
cumference of a circle whose diameter is unity,
is 3.141592 ; if we divide this number by 360
we shall obtain the length of an arc of one
degree = 0.0087266. If we multiply this
decimal by the number of degrees in the
arc, we shall obt ain the length of that arc in
a circle whose diameter is unity ; and this
product, multiplied by the diameter of another
circle, will give the length of an arc of the
given number of degrees in that circle.
Therefore, 0.0087266 X ^ = 0.392697 ; this
decimal multiplied by the diameter of the
roller will give the length of an arc of 45° in
millimetres and hundredths of millimetres.
This length obtained, mark off on the roller
so that two-thirds of it will come in front of
the impulse jewel, and the other third on the
back of it. This done, cut into a pair of old
tweezers a V; place the roller between them,
so clamping it together with a pair of tongs
that not quite the whole length of the arc to
be cut will be exposed by reason of the V,
and start the hollow with a good half round
file till pretty nearly the length marked off.
Now turn up a chuck in the lathe to a little
less than the diameter of the roller, and
cylindrical ; apply oil-stone dust and grind
the hollow out until it is almost the right
size, holding the roller firmly in a pair of
tongs against it, and then finish by polishing
with rouge or any of the polishing materials,
and you will obtain a perfectly circular hollow
and highly polished. The roller must now
be poised on the balance by means of the
hole which was bored into it and which is
opposite the hollow, then the sides polished,
finally the jewel cemented in with shellac, and
it is done.
Now, all this has taken more time to write
than it really would to perform the work
described ; but it must be remembered that
it is intended for the benefit of those who
wish to learn, not for the learned; and yet it
will require all the application of a thinking
workman to follow it out in practice. The
workman may find it slow work at first, but
he must be patient. A watchmaker, above
all other mechanics, ought to be provided
with an extraordinary amount of patience,
and from the almost microscopic accuracy of
the work he has to perform, his very nerves
must gradually become trained for the utmost
carefulness. A man who is not careful, and
has no patience, will never make a good work-
man ; but he who can justly be called a good
workman, is an artist of no common order.
Do not think you will never become a good
workman because you cannot do work fast.
We hear men boasting of how quickly they
can do such and such delicate piece of work,
and there is an impression on some people's
minds that the fastest workmen are the best.
Don't believe it; he who knows by experience
what it is to do a piece of work well, will
12
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
always think it slow work. Work as fast as
you can, but work well first.
Th. Gribi.
AVilmington, Del.
INFLUENCE OE ELECTRICITY AND EARTH
MAGNETISM.
Having in a former article expressed the
idea that the hair-spring, as well as the bal-
ance, was affected by electricity, I have since
gathered the results of experiments made in
Prance and England on the subject, and shall
present them to your readers if you deem it
acceptable. One of these facts is given by
Mr. Vissieu, an eminent French chronometer
manufacturer, who says: " From the 26th of
June, 1861, having four chronometers in
course of rating, I noticed a progressive ten-
dency to slow running (up to the 1st July the
weather had been cloudy and stormy), and at
first thinking that my astronomical clock was
out of order, I made my sidereal observations
with a transit and a repetitor circle of Borda,
and my observations did not show any differ-
ence in the running of the clock. From the
1st of July, and after a heavy thunder-storm,
the four chronometers came gradually back to
their first running. This effect was illustra-
ted more plainly on board of the steamship
New York, whose chronometers were in ad-
vance 33' 58" on her arrival at Liverpool, in
consequence of the ship having been struck
by lightning."
And from the Nautical Magazine I compile
the experiments of MM. Arnold and Dent,
on two chronometers where the hair-springs
were gold and the balances platinum, silver,
and brass. 1. These two chronometers gave
tinder the influence of earth magnetism, a
variation twice less than common chronome-
ters. 2. Under the influence of magnetized
iron cars, this variation was scarcely percep-
tible, while other chronometers showed a
variation of several minutes. Two other chro-
nometers, one having a gold hair-spring, the
other a platinum and brass balance, gave
mixed results, the magnetic effect seeming to
be pretty nearly equalized between the bal-
ance and hair-spring.
A celebrated artist of Switzerland, F.
Houriet, having constructed a chronometer
entirely without steel, except the main-spring
and the several staffs, it was submitted for
six days to the action of a magnet able to lift
a weight of 30 lbs., and no difference could
be detected in the rate. The learned Ansart-
Deusy, professor in the Naval Imperial School,
sums up a report to the French Academy by
saying that the only remedy for the variations
produced on chronometers by their place on
ships, is to use gold or any other metal but
steel for manufacturing hair-springs. This
fact has been demonstrated by the regularity
of the rates in the chronometers made by TJ.
Jurgensen, who uses exclusively gold for
hair-springs.
The practical application of these facts, col-
lected from all parts of the civilized world,
seems to suggest the use of another metal than
steel for hair-springs. Gold, though very
serviceable in ship chronometers, is too heavy
for making flat springs, and cannot practically
be used in watches. The question, then, would
be, to find a metal not any heavier than steel,
and as elastic, though the greatest trouble is
to find a metal as handy as steel for manufac-
turing, as most of the compound metals are
uneven in texture, and so brittle that they
require frequent annealing, thereby increas-
ing greatly the cost of manufacturing. An-
other practical deduction to be drawn from
this known effect of electricity and magne-
tism on time-keepers is, that no iron or steel
should be carried in the watch pocket, since
it is well known that a common knife blade
will produce a strong deviation on the mag-
netic needle.
Ernest Sandoz.
N. Y. Watch Factory,
Springfield, Mass.
$ST The New York "Watch Co.— "We are
glad to learn that this Company have so far
recovered from the effects of the fire as to be
again producing watches, and will in the
future be able to supply all demands for their
goods. The greater portion of their small
tools and material having been saved, as was
also a building detached from the principal
factory, their loss was much less severe than
was first reported.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
13
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
In presenting- the 1st No. of Vol. II. of the
Horological Journal to Its friends, the pub-
lisher desires to offer his grateful acknowledg-
ment for the very nattering opinions of its
merits, as expressed by the majority of its
patrons -when renewing their subscriptions.
"We confess to a feeling of pride in this matter,
believing, as we do, that no journal published
in this country has met with a more hearty
endorsement from its readers.
Having in the past allowed the Journal to
make its way into public favor strictly on its
merits as a practical and scientific exponent
of the science of horology, we propose to con-
tinue the same line of policy in the future,
believing that the intelligent workman will be
as sensible of whatever merits it may possess
as though we indulged in any amount of self-
glorification.
We take great pleasure in presenting to
our readers the first of a series of articles
from Mr. Morritz Grossmann, of Saxony, the
author of the celebrated Prize Essay on the
Lever Escapement, and undoubtedly the most
scientific practical horologist now living. He
has signified several themes on which he pro-
poses to send us communications, and we hope
to receive one for each number of the present
volume. We have also made him a proposi-
tion to translate for our columns the treatise
for which he received recently the prize offer-
ed by the Board of Trade of Geneva, instead
of publishing it in book form as contemplated.
We take the following extract from Mr.
Grossmann's letter to show some of the sub-
jects on which he proposes to furnish commu-
nications :
" It is with heartfelt interest that I have
perused your very ably edited Journal. I
congratulate you on so good a beginning, and
wish you the success you deserve. I wish to
state, without flattery, that I like your Horo-
logical Journal, as it has a decidedly scienti-
fic tendency.
" I have, since I read your Journal, noted
several themes on which I propose to send
you communications : On a new and simple
mode of rounding wheel teeth in an epicycloi-
dal shape ; On Remontoir escapements and
their value; Anew Remontoir escapement for
turret clocks ; On measuring instruments ;
A chuck for centring flat pieces of regular
shape (my own invention), etc., etc.
" To make a beginning I beg you will accept
the enclosed communication. If you should
think it interesting, I would, at a later period,
give the calculation of the compensating sys-
tem, without any mathemathical formulse,
in a plain way, accessible to all who possess
the elements of arithmetic. If desirable, I
am also ready to furnish the drawing of the
pendulum."
We also have the pleasure of introducing
to our readers Mr. J. Herrmann, of London,
a prominent and active member of the British
Horological Institute, whose specialty is that
of instructor in practical horology. We gave
in the March No. some extracts from a lecture
delivered by him before the British Horologi-
cal Institute, and want of space only pre-
vented our quoting him more extensively on
that occasion. As he proposes to submit his
views to the horologists of this country
through the columns of the Journal we shall
refrain from any comments at the present
time, feeling assured that they will receive a
careful consideration from our readers.
As we stated in the outset of our course,
the Horological Journal is intended as a
means of intercommunication for the practical
workmen ; and one of the leading features of
the present volume will be practical articles
from that source, several of which will be
found in the present No. We are indebted
to Mr. L. M. Bissell,of Shelburne Falls, Mass.,
for the article on the Adjustment of Balance
Springs, translated from the French. The
entire subject of isochronism and adjustments
to heat and cold, and position, will receive
especial attention in the future, giving not
only the best foreign authorities on the sub-
ject, but the individual experience of the best
workmen in this country. Judging from the
letters we have received on this subject, it is
one in which a deep interest is felt through-
out the country, and we invite all who have
made it an especial study to give the result of
their labors.
The watch-carrying public are becoming
more and more exacting in their demands for
the correct performance of their time-pieces,
and it is only by arriving at a very high degree
of perfection in his business that a workman is
enabled to satisfy his customers in that direc-
tion— a fraction of a second of daily rate
being considered of more importance than a
minute was twenty-five years ago.
14
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ISOCHRONAL ADJUSTMENT OF BALANCE
SPEINGS.
Of all the adjustments necessary in the
parts of a good watch, the most essential to
its performance is unquestionably that of
isochronism of the balance spring; for if this
adjustment is wanting, whatever may be the
excellence of the mechanism in other respects,
and however labored its workmanship and
other adjustments, it will assuredly disap-
point the expectation of the artisan, who will
find it impossible of being regulated to pre-
serve the same rate of going in the various
positions in which it is liable to be placed.
Suppose, for instance, that by comparison
with a reliable regulator the going of a well-
made watch is right during twelve hours in
four vertical positions where the friction is
greatest, and the arc of vibration of the bal-
ance considerably diminished in extent (th.e
positions being with the hours 12, 6, 9 and 3
upwards during three hours each), and that
it keeps correct time in all these positions,
but that in the horizontal position, or with
its face upwards, with larger arcs of vibra-
tion, the watch gains one hundred and twenty
seconds in twelve hours, the friction being
lost in the horizontal positions, and conse-
quently the arcs of vibration of greater ex-
tent. The proper remedy in such a case is to
make a correct isochronal adjustment of the
balance spring. A person unacquainted with
the adjustment would, however, fail to dis-
cover what the true remedy would be, and
would follow the plan usually resorted to, in
which, by lightening the balance at the
twelve o'clock part the times of the vibrations
in the hanging and lying positions would be
accommodated to each other, but not without
increasing in the other three vertical posi-
tions, to the great detriment of a nearly per-
fect watch. Thus it is that many watches,
which are fair specimens of workmanship,
are frequently injured by false adjustments,
and fail to preserve for their makers either
credit or satisfaction.
Isochronism is an inherent property of the
balance spring, depending entirely upon the
ratio of the spring's tension, following the
proportion of the arcs of vibration. A balance
spring, therefore, of any force whatever, hav-
ing the momentum required by the law of
isochronism, will preserve this property,
whether it be applied to a balance having
quick or slow vibrations; for which reason, in
the present inquiry, every consideration is
purposely omitted which gives to the balance
its specific character — such as weight, diame-
ter, etc., and it is treated simply as the balance.
Most writers on isochronism consider the
vibrations of the balance in its totality, and
they have reasoned for the most part on the
time of vibrations in their entirety; but a bet-
ter plan would be to consider the time of
each semi-vibration of the balance to consist
of some number of minute equal portions of
time, and then, by applying the known laws
of forces to the balance, to determine what
are the specific conditions under which the
vibrations themselves shall in their totality
become isochronous. The elastic force of the
spring belongs to that class of powers called
continuous, because the action is not by a
single impulse, which then ceases, but by a
number of consecutive impulses following
each other in such rapid succession as to con-
stitute an uninterrupted and continuous
force, but which force is uniformly increasing
during the bending of the spring, and uni-
formly decreasing daring its unbending.
The first step towards the comprehension
of isochronism is the recognition of the ac-
celerated and retarded motion of the balance ;
for which purpose it must be followed, step
by step, through the entire vibration, on the
supposition that the time oi each semi-vibra-
tion is divided into or composed of any con-
venient number of equal parts — say ten. If,
then, the balance be supposed to be moved by
the fingers from the point where it will stand
when at rest, over an arc of any number of
degres, and be there held, it will be presumed
that the spring is wound into tension, and
acquires an amount of elastic force proportion-
ate to the angle over which it is inflected,
which force is then resting against the finger
by which the balance itself is held in
a state of rest. By the arc or angle
of inflection of a spring is meant the arc
passed over by the inner end of the spring,
which is pinned into the collet ; which arc is
always equal to that passed over by any point
in the balance when moved from the point of
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
15
rest. The instant, however, that the finger is
■withdrawn, the elastic force of the spring will
be exerted in overcoming the absolute inertia
of the balance, and at the expiration of the
first short period of time, or one-tenth of the
time of a semi-vibration, the spring will have
communicated a slight motion to the balance,
and during the second tenth the force of the
spring is exerted against the balance in mo-
tion, instead of at rest, as it was at the com-
mencement of the first tenth, and will neces-
sarily accelerate the motion that the balance
had previously acquired, and so on during
each succeeding tenth ; the elastic force of
the spring continually decreasing, and con-
stantly accelerating the motion of the balance.
The balance having thus returned to the
position from which it was moved by the
finger, the first half of the vibration is fully
completed, and a change of circumstances
takes place. The spring which continued
to communicate motion to the balance until
its whole force had been transferred to it, has
now, for an instant, resumed a state of rest.
The balance has also assumed a new character,
having accpiired a velocity of motion and mo-
mentum sufficient to carry it through the
other half of the vibration ; and in so doing to
force the spring through an angle equal to
that which it was originally moved through
by the finger, and to give the spring the ne-
cessary tension for performing the next suc-
ceeding vibration. During the first few
tenths of the second half of the vibration the
spring has so little tension that its force
retards but slightly the force of the balance ; .
but during the succeeding tenths the tension
gradually increases until the spring acquires
sufficient force to entirely arrest the motion
of the balance at the same extent of arc on
the other side of the place of rest as that to
which it was originally moved by the finger.
The specific conditions under which the
vibrations themselves, considered in their
entirety, whether short or long, should be
isochronous, are these :
1st. If the time of each semi-vibration be
conceived to be composed of the same number
of very small equal instants of time, and
whatever be the extent of the arc traversed,
that the first and last of these minute instants
of time precisely compared with the com-
mencement and conclusion of each semi-vi-
bration, the vibrations of such balance,
whether long or short, will be isochronous —
or performed in equal time.
2d. The elastic force of the balance spring
increases in direct proportion to the angle of
inflection by which it is moved into tension ;
and here it is obvious that the increasing and
diminishing tension which causes the balance
to follow a definite law of acceleration and
retardation, must itself also follow a definite
ratio of increase and decrease in order that
the first and last of these very small equal
instants of time shall correspond with the
commencement and conclusion of each semi-
vibration.
3d. It is likewise evident that the ratio of
change in the tension may be either one that
proceeds too rapidly, and consequently pro-
duces a vibration in excess, or one which
proceeds too slowly and produces a vibration
too short; on which account there are two
vibrations of the spring which are not
isochronous.
Ath. In the former variety, producing a
vibration in excess, the spring acquires a
greater amount of elastic force than that
which is due to the angle of inflection in an
isochronal spring ; hence it follows that the
greater the arc of vibration the greater will
be the angles of inflection, and consequently
the greater the excess of the undue tension.
The effect of this undue tension will be to
force the balance forward too rapidly during
the first half of the vibration, causing it to
arrive at its conclusion before the expiration
of the time due to the isochronous vibration.
A similar effect is produced during the second
half of the vibration by the undue excess of
tension accelerating the balance before the
full number of instants of time have entirely
expired. During each semi-vibration through-
out the day some of these minute instants of
time will be left unemployed, and their accu-
mulated amount will be the amount gained in
the long arcs of vibration, in comparison with
the same in the short arcs.
5th. In the latter variety the elastic force
due to the angle of inflection will not be suffi-
ciently great, and the spring will not have
requisite tension to carry the balance over
the first semi-vibration of a long arc in the
16
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
time allotted to it, nor to arre&t it so soon as
the isochronous term of the second semi-vi-
bration requires. Each semi-vibration, there-
fore, will occupy too large a number of
instants in its performance, and the accumu-
lated amount of them throughout the day
will indicate the loss during the long arcs of
vibration in comparison with the short arcs.
It is evident that however great may be
the science displayed in the inflection of the
balance spring, it will be valueless in an
isochronal point of view, unless it will remain
permanently in the state in which the artisan
leaves it. For a spring to possess this indis-
pensable property, a high degree of perfection
is necessarily required, demanding care in
the selection of the material, skill in the
manufacture, and science in the application.
Springs are for the most part made of steel,
hardened and tempered, though some few
have been made of gold, of which metal cer-
tain alloys have been particularly recom-
mended, but their elasticity is not always to
be relied on. The use of glass for springs
was suggested by Berthoud, but was ultimately
rejected.
Balance springs must possess as perfect
and permanent a degree of elasticity as can
be attained ; these requisites depending upon
the quality, hardness, and temper of the
metal, as well as upon the form or shape of
the spring. A soft spring gradually changes
its form, and losing a portion of its elastic
force, becomes unfit for use, causing the
watch to lose on its rate. A hardened
tempered spring, on the contrary, has a ten-
dency to gain on its rate ; but this must not
be considered as a defect, since it is merely
the result of the spring having been set during
the process of hardening, whereby it has ac-
quiied too great a degree of rigidity. This
rigidity, however, wears off after a few
months' vibration in the watch, which, during
this period almost imperceptibly gains slightly
upon its rate, in consequence of the increased
elastic force occasioned by the increased flex-
ibility of the spring. When the process of
hardening and tempering has been properly
conducted, the gaining on its rate will be re-
stricted within very narrow limits, and will
entirely cease on the spring attaining its max-
imum amount of flexibility and elastic force.
Correctness of form or shape has been
already stated as one of the conditions requi-
site to insure isochronism. There are two
forms of spring in use, viz. : the cylindrical
or helix, and the spiral or flat spring. The
former is exclusively used in chronometers,
and the latter in all other kinds of watches.
The cylindrical, which is the simplest form of
spring, is turned in by a suitable curve to
accommodate it to the size of the collet into
which it is fixed, and the upper end of the
spring is turned in by a more or less bold
sweep, according to the indication of the
isochronal adjustment, and is pinned into a
fixed stud. The collet vibrating with the bal-
ance, that point on the circumference of the
collet, when the spring is fastened into it,
is inflected through the same extent of arc
as the semi-vibration consists of ; and by
examination of the action of the spring dur-
ing the vibration of the balance, it will be
perceived that for each portion of the extent
so inflected, there is a corresponding increase
or diminution of each of the coils of the helix
throughout the entire length of the spring,
no part whatever being out of action.
In order to test the isochronism of a
spring, the chronometer must be in good
going order. If the force of the main-spring
be then increased by setting up the ratchet,
the arc of vibration of the balance will be
increased ; or, if the force of the main-spring
be lessened by letting down the ratchet, the
arc of vibration will be decreased, and may
therefore be regulated to any extent desired.
Comparisons of rate in tli2 long and short
vibrations are then made during an equal
number of hours in each by a good clock,
and the difference carefully noted, which dif-
ference indicates the state of approximation
of the spring to isochronism, and points out
the remedy, if it needs correction, according
to the following rules :
1st. If the chronometer be found to lose
in the long arcs, it will prove that the tension
or elastic form of the spring has not increased
to the amount due to the angle of inflection,
or semi-arc of vibration. Hence some
minute portions of time are lost in each semi-
vibration ; in the first by the balance not
being carried forward with sufficient celerity,
and in the second by the spring not acquiring
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
17
sufficient force to stop the balance at the iso-
chronous point. The remedy in this case is to
shorten the spring, thereby increasing its
elastic force and causing its motion to become
more rapid ; but as much time is lost by re-
peated unpinning of the spring, the effect of
shortening may be produced artificially, when
the state of the isochronism is within the limits
which experience points out, by merely
altering the form of the upper curve so as to
give it a greater degree of expansion.
2d. If the chronometer should gain in the
long arcs, in comparison to the time it keeps
when vibrating in short arcs, it proves that
the tension increases in a ratio beyond that
which is due to the angle of inflection. In
this case, if it keeps time when the semi-
arc of vibration is one hundred degrees, it
will gain when it vibrates two hundred
degrees; for, instead of having as much force
as would compel the balance to vibrate over
double the space with double the mean velo-
city, which would of course occupy the same
time, it will possess an excess of tension
which will increase the velocity of each semi-
vibration, and necessarily shorten the time
of performing them ; causing an accumula-
tion of instants, which will be the gain per
diem. The remedy for such a spring is to
increase the length of the part in action; but
this is not always convenient or possible in
the isochronal adjustment; but an expedient
is resorted to in which an artificial length
is given to the spring by compressing the
curve of the part bent inwards at the upper
end so as to make the curve commence its
inward direction at a point a little farther
distant from the stud. Before attempting t0
make any alteration in a spring, it is advisable
to examine the state of the curves, more
especially when the chronometer gains in the
long arcs, as it will sometimes be found that
one of the curves is turned abruptly, which
has the effect of causing a gain in the long
arcs in consequence of the spring abutting so
directly against the curve as to leave a part
of its length in very imperfect action. The
opinion of early writers on the subject was,
that in a certain determinate length of wire
there are several isochronal points, to either
of which a balance may be adapted, accord-
ing to the motion of the vibrations it is in-
tended to perform. Suppose, for instance,
that a cylindrical spring, having ten turns,
be found isochronal ; one of these turns (or
more) may be taken away, and a point in the
spring still be found that will give the required
ratio of increasing tension, and produce
isochronal vibration.
The spiral or flat spring is less simple in its
form than the cylindrical, and although, what-
ever may be its form, the principles upon
which its isochronism depends are not altered,
yet there are circumstances which affect its
isochronal perfection in so marked a degree
that this requires to be particularly noted ;
and the more especially so since the spiral
springs are more commonly employed than
the cylindrical, and their construction in-
volves several points of greater nicety in their
manipulation. The proper length and strength
of wire having been selected, the manner in
which it is turned up into a spiral is impor-
tant, for in this operation its natural isochro-
nism may be either partially or wholly de-
stroyed. This will surely be the case if there
be any small points or elbows in it, or if the
spring be so made that during the vibration
any part thereof be either inactive or have an
imperfect action. Indeed, the absolute ne-
cessity for the spring to continue in free and
unrestrained action throughout its entire
length, and during the whole period of the
vibration, cannot be too strongly urged, be-
cause an opinion generally prevails that the
outer turns do not come into action until
near the end of the semi-vibration. With a
cylindrical spring there is no difficulty in pro-
ducing the same extent of vibration on either
side of the point of rest. With a flat spring,
however, this is not obtained with an equal
degree of facility, nor without the closest
attention to its form, as well as to the pinning
it in, so that it shall not in the slightest de-
gree depart from its natural shape when out
of the watch.
A spiral spring, to be turned up correctly,
should lie in several close turns towards the
centre, springing off into a gentle curve when
it is pinned into the collet, and then gradu-
ally and constantly expanding in such a man-
ner that each part of the spiral would cross,
but nowhere coincide with, a small circular
arc drawn from the centre of the collet and
18
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
concentric thereto. This is perfectly indis-
pensable to isochronisrn. If, on the contrary,
a spiral springs off from the collet, first by a
large bold sweep, and then lies in a few close
and large turns, it will be very defective in its
action, and quite devoid of the isochronal
property. In such a spring the middle of the
vibrations will not coincide with the point of
rest, for the spring will yield readily to the
momentum of the balance during the wind-
ing up of its coils, and the whole length of
the spring will be brought into action, though
imperfectly ; but during the expansion of the
coils, upon the return of the balance, the ac-
tion of the inner turn will not be exerted
against curves which lie across concentric
circles, but such as lie in concentric circles,
or nearly so, and will therefore abut so point
blank against them as to cause no displace-
ment whatever in a portion of the outer turns,
thus giving the effect of a short strong spring,
which arrests the balance too soon in this
part of the vibration. Such irregularities are
obviously incompatible with the requisites for
producing isochronal vibrations.
The isochronal trial of a flat spring in a
watch is more simple than that described for
a chronometer, since the balance of a watch
is thrown into the long or short arcs of vibra-
tion by a mere change of position, which
changes the amount of friction, and conse-
quently the extent of arc. In the horizontal
position, with the dial uppermost, the friction
is least, and the vibrations of the fullest ex-
tent ; in the vertical, or th&position in which
the watch is worn, the friction is greatest, and
the extent of the vibration necessarily cur-
tailed. The trial is made by the aid of a good
clock, by comparing the rate of running
during a certain number of hours in a hori-
zontal position, with the mean result of an
equal number of hours running in any two
opposite vertical positions. For instance,
first with the 12 and then with the 6
upward ; and then in like manner with the
9 and the 3 upward ; the mean result
of two opposite vertical positions being re-
quired in order to neutralize any slight
irregularities that may exist in the poise of
the balance. The indication and the applica-
tion of the isochronal adjustment are the same
as those already described for the cylindrical
spring, but under greater restrictions. For,
as the balances for watches are, for the most
part, unprovided with any means by which
their inertia may be varied, as is done in the
compensation balance, so as to suit the elastic
force of any particular spring and the num-
ber of vibrations required to be performed in
a given time, the spring must not only be
isochronal, but of the precise degree of elas-
tic force demanded by the particular balance
to be employed. The selection of a spring
in this case, within the limits of isochronal
adjustment, must be made by trial in the
watch.
The great advantage of an isochronal
spring is its innate power of resisting the
influences which cause any change of ratio —
such as change of position, increased friction
as the watch becomes dirty, or the viscidity
of the oil in low temperatures. It is sur-
prising to see chronometers return from sea
with scarcely a change of rate, although they
have been going for three or four years, and
even longer periods of time, and the vibra-
tions had fallen off to a very small arc in con-
sequence of the oil becoming so viscid that
in some instances a slight degree of force
has been found necessary to draw the pivot out
of the fourth hole. But what is still more
remarkable, some of these chronometers, after
having been cleaned, have been known to
take up their original rate, although with,
perhaps, threefold vibration.
The method by which an isochronal spring
arrives at such perfection may be thus ex-
plained : The spring's elastic force is pre-
supposed to be both perfect and permanent
under similar temperatures ; for, as has been
previously stated, the elastic force diminishes
as the temperature to which it is exposed is
increased. The elastic force of the spring is
counterbalanced by the resistance it meets
with in the work it has to perform, which is
of two kinds — the inertia of the balance, and
the friction of the rubbing parts, to which all
machinery is more or less subject. If the
spring is assumed to possess a force equal to
100, and that 10 of those parts are requisite
to overcome the friction when at a minimum,
there will be 90 parts left for action upon the
balance. But the friction wiU vary accord-
ing to circumstances, although the spring and
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
19
balance remain unaltered. If, therefore, the
spring has power to carry the balance through
a certain arc of vibration "when the friction is
at a minimum, it will have the power to per-
form the same amount of work when the
friction is at a maximum, but the 100 parts of
power will be differently proportioned in the
execution of the work. Let it be assumed,
for instance, that the friction is trebled ; then
will there be 30 parts expended in overcom-
ing the friction, and consequently 70 parts
only left for action upon the balance, which
will necessarily have less extent of vibration.
Now, since the isochronal ratio of the spring's
tension remains unaltered, the commencement
and end of every semi-vibration will coincide
with the first and last of the minute instants
of time comprising the isochronous vibration,
which is the condition required for correct
performance.
So it is, also, with increased friction ; the
elastic force of the balance spring being con-
stantly proportional to the angle of inflection,
whatever may be the amount of friction, the
law of isochronism remains unimpaired, and
friction is only an adventitious circumstance,
which affects the extent of the arc of vibra-
tion, but not the time in which it will be de-
scribed.
CALCULATION OF WHEEL TEETH.
The books written on this subject are all
more or less so complicated as to almost en-
tirely exclude them from the understanding
of the general repairer. This arises from
the fact that their problems and solutions are
generally carried out in algebra— a study,
unfortunately, that very few repairers are
conversant with, as I have proved to my sat-
isfaction by actual observation. Such being
the case, and believing that a plain practical
treatise on this subject was desirable, I have
endeavored in the following article to give
rules combining simplicity and precision,
and so arranging them that any one with a
knowledge of the first four rules in arith-
metic can easily comprehend and apply
them.
Query. — How many revolutions will the last
wheel or pinion in a train make for one turn
of the first wheel, the number of wheel and
pinion teeth being given ?
Bide. — With the product of all the working
pinion leaves multiplied together, divide the
product of all the working wheel teeth multi-
plied together, and the quotient will be the
number of turns and part of turns the last
wheel or pinion will make for one of the
first.
Problem. — Suppose the wheel teeth thus:
100, 80, 60, 50, and the pinions 20, 16, 10, 8.
The operation would be
100 X «0 X 60X50 24000000
20 X 16 X 10 X 8 ": 25600 ~~ 937*'
this number being the turns of the last wheel
in this train, for one of the first wheel. The
desired result may also be obtained by divi-
ding each wheel by its working pinion sepa-
rately, and multiplying all the quotients to-
gether, thus:
W—B; H=5; fS=.6; V-=6|; 5X5X6
X6J = 937|.
Problem Second. — Given the number of beats
in an hour, the number of wheel and pinion
teeth ; required the number of teeth to give
the escape wheel so as to obtain the given
number of beats an hour. (The balance makes
two beats, in most escapements, for every tooth
in the escape wheel ; therefore, if the latter
have 20 teeth, the balance would make 40
vibrations for every revolution of the escape
wheel; if the escape wheel have 15 teeth, then
30 vibrations, etc.)
Pule. — Divide one-half the number of given
beats in an hour by the number of turns of the
escape wheel or pinion for one of the centre
wheel, and the quotient will be the proper
number of teeth to give the escape wheel.
Example. — Suppose the number of beats in
an hour to be 16,800, and the number of wheel
teeth and pinion leaves to stand thus :
wheels 80, 60, 56 ; pinions 8, 8, 7 ; by the
preceding rule we find the turns of the es-
cape wheel or pinion for one of the centre
wheel to be 600. The number of beats in an
hour being 16,800, the half of this would be
8,400, and this divided by 600 will give 14—
the proper number of teeth for the escape
wheel.
Problem Third. — How many hours a watch
or clock will run before being again wound up,
20
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the number of teeth in the barrel, and the
number of turns it can make before the spring
runs down, together with the number of the
centre pinion teeth, being given.
Rule. — Divide the number of barrel teeth
by the number of centre pinion teeth, multi-
ply the quotient by the number of turns the
barrel can make, and the product will be the
number of hours the watch will go before
being again wound up.
Example. — Suppose the barrel to have 96
teeth, the centre pinion 8, and the number of
turns the barrel can make to be 3 ; 96 divi-
ded by 8 gives 12 — the number of turns (or
hours) the centre pinion makes for one of the
barrel, which multiplied by 3, the number of
turns the barrel can make, will give 12X3=
36 — the number of hours it will go without
again winding. If it be desired to have the
watch go 30 hours, and the number of turns
of the barrel to be 3, the barrel would then
have to make 1 turn in 10 hours, and conse-
quently must have ten times as many teeth
as the centre pinion. If we choose to have
8 teeth for the centre pinion, the barrel must
then have 10X8=80 ; if 6 teeth, then 6X10
=60, etc., etc. When the watch or clock is
desired to go a longer time, 8 days for in-
stance, it is necessary to have an additional
wheel and pinion, placed between the barrel
and centre wheel. "VVe will suppose the bar-
rel to have 96 teeth, the additional wheel to
have 80, its pinion 12, and the centre wheel
pinion 10 ; it will be seen that the additional
wheel makes but one turn in 8 hours, as f-{7=8,
and the barrel only one turn in f f X 8 = 64
hours, so that the watch or clock, with 3|
turns of the barrel, will go 8 days. On the
same principle it may be made to go a month
or a year by adding one or more wheels.
Problem Fourth. — What number of teeth
to give the wheels in a train consisting of
wheels and pinions so that the last wheel or
pinion numbers a given number of turns for
one turn of the first wheel.
Rale. — The number of teeth in the pinions
must first be chosen and fixed upon, these
numbers multiplied together, and with this
product multiply the number of turns the
last wheel is to make ; this will give such a
number that, when divided by single factors,
as 2, 3, 5, 7, etc., until the product (continuing
each prime number until it no more equally
divides) will give such prime numbers that
can be multipled together in sets to suit.
Example. — We will choose the number of
pinions 12, 10, 8, and the number of turns
the last wheel is to make (for one of the first)
200 ; these numbers multiplied together give
12X10X8X200=192,000 ; this divided by
prime numbers gives 192000-h2=96000-f-2
= 48000-^2=24000-f-2=12000-f- 2=6000^- 2
=3000-^-2=1500-^2= 750-^2=375-^3=125
-^-5=25-f-5=5-f-5=l ; these factors are now
multiplied together to suit, in the following
manner: 5X5X^X2=150, for the first wheel;
5X2X2X2=40, for the second ; and 2X2X
2X2X2=32, for the third wheel, as the fol-
lowing proof will show : 1T\°=12|, y£=4, ^
=4, and these quotients multiplied together
give 12^X4X4=200. If these numbers are
thought not fitting on account of the size of
the wheels, they can be arranged differently,
thus : 5X2X2X2X2=30 ; 5X3X2X2=60;
5X2X2X2=40.
Proof.— -f§=6f, .<4>=6,Y=5 ; these multi-
plied together give 6§X6X 5=200, showing
the numbers to be proper.
Problem Fifth. —What number of teeth to
give to the wheels in a train consisting of 3
wheels and pinions, when the balance is to
make 16,800 vibrations an hour, or in the
time the minute-hand makes one turn, and
the escape wheel has 14 teeth.
Rule. — Divide the number of beats in an
hour by double the number of the escape
wheel teeth. This quotient will be the num-
ber of turns the escape wheel will make in
an hour ; the numbers for the pinions are
then chosen, multiplied together, and with
the product multiply the former number of
turns the escape wheel makes in an hour ;
this product is then divided by prime num-
bers, and multiplied together into sets to
suit.
Example. — 16,800 being the number of
beats given in an hour in the above problem,
this, when divided by 28, double the number
of escape wheel teeth, gives 600 — the num-
ber of turns the escape wheel will make in
an hour. The pinions are then chosen,
which, in this case, will be 3 pinions of 8 ;
these multiplied together, and then with the
number of turns the escape wheel makes in
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
21
an hour, gives 8X8X8X600=307200 ; this,
divided by prime numbers, shows them to be
2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, which
can be arranged into the following sets : 5X
2X 2X 2X 2=80 ; 2X 2X 2X2X2X2=64 ;
5X3X2X2=60 — numbers very good for
practical use.
Problem Sixth. — "What number to give to
the teeth of wheels in a watch where the
seconds hand makes one turn in a minute, or
GO turns in the time the balance makes a
given number of beats in an hour.
Note. — The fourth, or seconds wheel must
always make 60 turns for one of the minute,
or centre wheel.
Bide. — The train is divided by 60, which
will give the number of beats in a minute,
and this quotient is then divided by double
the number of escape wheel teeth, which will
give the number of turns the escape wheel
will make in a minute ; from this quotient is
derived the number of teeth for the seconds
wheel and the escape wheel pinion. If the
quotient is composed of a whole number,
then the escape wheel pinion may be any
number chosen ; the seconds wheel must then
have as many teeth as the product of the quo-
tient multiplied by the number chosen for the
escape wheel pinion ; but should the quotient
be a number with a fraction attached, then
the number must be altered into an improper
fraction — the denominator of which will be
the number for the pinion, and the numerator
the number for the seconds wheel. If the
improper fraction be thought too high it may
be reduced.
Example. — Suppose the number of beats in
an hour to be 18,000, and the escape wheel to
have 15 teeth ; 18,000 divided by 60 gives 300
beats a minute ; this quotient being divided
by 30, double the number of escape wheel
teeth, gives 10 ; this being a whole number,
the escape wheel pinion may be of any num-
ber. If we choose 8 for the pinion, the seconds
wheel must have 8X10=30 ; if 6, then
6X10=60.
Example. — The beats an hour 18,000, the
escape wheel 14, what must be the number of
teeth for the seconds wheel and escape wheel
pinion ? u$a o=300 ; this divided by 28,
double the number of escape v>heel teeth,
gives W=10ffc or 10$ ; this altered into an
improper fraction, gives ^-, being 7 for the
escape wheel pinion, and 75 for the second
wheel.
The calculation of wheel teeth in planeta-
riums is far more complicated, but as this is
not in the line of repairs we will not enter
upon it. The preceding rules and examples
are so arranged that the first three rules may
be applied to any clock machinery ; the last
three being designed especially for watch-
makers.
Charles Spiro.
212 Broadway, N. Y.
DIALING.
NUMBER ONE.
" W; t ih the dial's shadow moving,
Life and Time are worth improving ;
Seize the moments, while they stay ;
Seize and use them,
Lest you lose them,
And lament the wasted day."
Dialing, or " G-nomonics," as it is some-
times called, has found its foundation in the
astronomical theory of the sun's motions, and
very naturally grew out of the observed mo-
tion of the shadows cast by its apparent daily
rotation.
The earliest mention made of a dial is
found in the Bible. " In those days Hezekiah
was sick to the death, and prayed unto the
Lord, and He spake unto him, and He gave
him a sign." Chap, xxxii., v. 34, 2d Chronicles.
" Behold I will bring again the shadow of the
degrees, which is gone down in the sundial
of Ahaz, ten degrees backward ; so the sun
returned ten degrees by which degrees it was
gone down." Chap, xxxviii. Isaiah.
The earliest knowledge we have for a cer-
tainty, was the " Hemicyle," or concave hemi-
spherical dial of the Chaldean astronomer,
Borosus, 540 years before Christ. It was a
very natural construction, being a concave
hemisphere, with a small sphere or ball sup-
ported in the centre of the horizontal plane
of the hemisphere. At sunrise or sunset, no
shadow would be cast on the inner surface,
but as the sun's altitude increased, the shadow
was. projected on the concave of the hemi-
sphere. This construction of Borosus de-
22
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
scended beyond the time of Hipparchus and
Ptolemy, and was found in use among the
Arabians in the year 900. Four of these an-
cient dials have been recovered in Italy. One
in the year 1746, at Tivoli, supposed to have
belonged to Cicero, who mentions having sent
such a one to his villa near Tusculum. The
second and third were found in 1751; one at
Castel Nuovo, the other at Rignano, and a
fourth at Pompeii in the year 1762. This
latter differs from the others in that the trop-
ics are not expressly on it, the equator only
being seen. It seems a little strange that no
dials are found among the Egyptian antiqui-
ties ; there is nothing of the kind delineated
in any of their sculptures or frescos. Some
have supposed that the numerous Obelisks
found everywhere in Egypt, were erected in
honor of the sun, and were used as huge
" gnomons," whose shadows served to make
apparent the divisions of the day. But it
seems hardly probable that such enormous
dials should be in use, and none smaller, and
far more convenient, be found or heard of
among that learned people.
The subject of dialing was greatly agitated
during the 17th century by all the writers on
astronomy. The 18th century produced some
writings on the subject, but clocks and
watches had, by this time, begun to super-
sede the use of dials, and the art of construct-
ing them was pursued mostly as a mathe-
matical recreation.
The subject of dialing was suggested to
the mind of the writer by the very excellent
series of papers in the Journal on " Astron-
omy in its Relations to Horology,'' and that
a comparison between the earlier and ruder
modes of the ancients, and our present per-
fected science and instruments, would not be
out of place. We do not propose to go into
the purely scientific aspect of the subject, for
it would be far more curious than useful, and
to be fully comprehended, would require a
complete knowledge of geometry, plane and
spherical trigonometry — in fact, the highest
mathematical education. It would be of no
utility or interest to the astronomer, having
been superseded by modern advancements ;
and to the generality of artisans it would be
dry and incomprehensible for want of the
requisite mathematical education.
The Horologucal Journal being professedly
practical, devoted not so much to philosophy
as to fact, we shall give only in the future arti-
cles such plain, arbitrary directions for the
construction of various descriptions of dials,
as will enable the uneducated to construct
them correctly, for their own use or amuse-
ment, and perhaps thereby stimulating some
of the younger members of the craft to aspire
to a more thorough knowledge of astronomi-
cal science, as connected with their chosen
occupation, and to seek for the reason " why
these things are thus."
The apparent diurnal motion of the " starry
heavens " is perfectly uniform. The sun's
apparent diurnal motion about the earth's
axis, however, deviates a little from perfect
equality by its unequal angular motion in the
ecliptic, and its obliquity to the equator.
These inequalities need not be attended to in
the construction of a dial ; their joint effect
is compensated for by the " equation of time,"
a correction which must always be applied
to the time it indicates, which table of equa-
tion is every month furnished correctly by
the Horological Journal, on its last page.
The refraction of light might also be taken
into account, but its error being less than
that of construction {which is entirely a
graphical operation, subject to the imperfec-
tion of instruments), it may be neglected.
The time, as indicated by a dial, is suffi-
ciently accurate for the ordinary affairs of
life. But its error, whatever it may be, un-
like that of a clock, is not carried forward
day after day — it remains constantly the
same ; if it be one minute a day, it is only a
minute out of truth, but the incorrect clock
is one minute to-day, two minutes to-morrow,
three minutes next day, and so on ; and in a
week, or at farthest a month, has gone so far
wrong as to be wholly unreliable, until reset
to the correct time.
All the knowledge that will be required, is
ordinary education, and to know how to
draw parallel lines and perpendiculars, and
to measure angles ; and all the instruments
necessary are compasses, a scale of chords
(the construction of which will be shown), or
a protractor, for the measurement of angles,
and a straight edge rule.
Still, we cannot enter upon these instructions
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
23
without expressing the hope that every young
mechanic will at once, if he has not already,
make himself more or less familiar with
geometry: even a little knowledge of that kind
will be found useful every day, and the time
spent in its acquirement will never be
regretted.
o
METHOD OF DETERMINING DISTANCES.
I send you a table for finding the differ-
ence of time between two places, knowing the
distance between the meridians passing
through them, in statute miles. It was sug-
gested by the table on page 327 of No. 11
of Horological Journal, giving the latitude
and longitude of different places in the
United States.
Table showing the Distance, in Statute Miles, on any Lati-
tude from 20° to 50°, inclusive, corresponding to 1 Minute
of Time, and also for 1 Second of Time.
Distance
Distance
Distance
Distance
Lat.
for
for
Lat.
for
for
1 Min.
lSec.
1 Min.
1 Sec.
20°
16 25
.271
36°
14 00
.233
21
16.15
.269
37
13.82
.230
22
16.01
.267
38
13.64
.227
23
15.92
.265
39
13.45
.224
24
15.80
.2o3
40
13.26
.221
25
15 68
.261
41
13.07
.219
26
15 55
.259
42
12 87
.215
27
15 41
.257
43
12 66
.211
28
15.27
.255
44
12 46
.207
29
15 13
.252
45
12 24
.204
30
14 98
.249
46
12.03
.200
31
14 83
.247
47
11 81
.197
32
14.67
.244
48
11 59
.193
33
14.51
.242
49
11 36
.189
31
14.18
.236
50
11.13
.185
35
14.18
.236
This table gives the distance on any parallel
of latitude from 20° to 50° inclusive, corre-
sponding to one minute of time, and also to
one second of time. This distance divided
into the distance between the meridians of
two places, will give the difference of time
between those two places in minutes and
seconds. It is computed from one adopted
by U. S. Topographical Engineers, showing
the length of a degree of longitude, in statute
miles, on any parallel of latitude, and which
also takes into consideration the oblateness
of the earth.
I cannot, perhaps, explain the table better
than by giving an example requiring its use.
Given the distance between the meridians
of Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, Michigan,
as counted by the ranges of townships on
latitude 43°=98 miles; required the differ-
ence of time of those two places. Looking
into the table, I find the distance for one
minute on latitude 43°, is 12.66 miles ; this
divided into 98 gives 7 minutes, and a
remainder of 9.38 miles. This remainder
divided by the distance for one second en the
same latitude, viz. : .211 miles, gives 44
seconds, so that the difference of time is 7
minutes 44 seconds.
Again, the distance between the meridians
passing through Ann Arbor and Chicago, is
between 197 and 198 miles, as counted by
the township ranges (a range being six
miles), — say 197.5 miles. Required the dif-
ference of time between Ann Arbor and
Chicago, the distance between the meridians
being counted near the parallel of 42°.
Looking into the table, I find that on lati-
tude 42°, the distance for one minute is
12.87 miles, and for one second, .215 miles,
and 197.5 divided by 12.87 = 15 minutes,
with a remainder of 4.45 miles ; this remain-
der divided by .215, the distance due to one
second = 20 seconds, and the required dif-
ference of time is 15 minutes 20 seconds,
which varies only about one second from the
time due to difference of longitude of those
two places, as given by the table of longitudes
referred to in No. 11 of the Horological
Journal.
It is to be observed that the distance
between two meridians may be measured on
any latitude, but the distance taken from the
table for a divisor must be from the same lati-
tude.
In the same manner, and with the help of
the table referred to in No. 11 of the Horo-
logical Journal, giving the latitude and
longitude of different places in the United
States, the difference of time, and conse-
quently the difference of longitude of any
two places in this vast territory, may be deter-
mined to a few seconds of time. Indeed, in
the Western States, where the domain is sur-
veyed into six-mile townships, the difference
of time between any two places within a
moderate distance of each other, may be
known to a second.
24
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
In Great Britain, local time is ignored, or
rather the time of one place, by common
consent, is regarded as the time of any other
place on the island — the great clock of
Westminster ticking the time by telegraph
to every town of the kingdom. Not so in
America, which embraces more than 3| hours
of longitude.
H. C. Pearsons.
Ferrysbtjrg, Mich.,
JKS0" Answers to correspondents, as well as
other interesting articles, are unavoidably
crowded out in this number, but will be
attended to next month.
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EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For July, 1870.
ii
Sidereal
©
Time
Equation
Equation
Sidereal
0>
Day
of
the Semi-
of
Time to be
of
Time to he
Difif.
Time
or
—
diameter
Added to
Subtracted
One
Right
Passing
Apparent
from
Hour.
Ascension
the
Time.
Mean Time.
of
n
Meridian.
Mean Sun.
s.
M s.
M. s.
s.
H. M. s.
Fri
1
68.79
3 29.63
3 29.60
0.486
6 37 20.84
Bat
2
68 75
3 41.19
3 41.16
0.475
6 41 17.40
Rn.
3
68 71
3 52.46
3 52.43
0.462
6 45 13.96
M..
4
68 67
4 3.42
4 3.39
0.448
6 49 10.51
Tu.
5
68.63
4 14.06
4 14.03
0.434
6 53 7.06
W
6
68.58
4 24.33
4 24.30
0.419
6 57 3.62
Th.
7
68.53
4 34 23
4 34.20
0.403
7 1 0.18
Fri.
8
68 48
4 43.74
4 43.71
0.386
7 4 56.74
Sat
9
68.42
4 52.84
4 52 81
0.369
7 8 53.29
So.
10
68. 3 '5
5 1 51
5 1.48
0.351
7 12 49.85
M..
11
68.30
5 9.75
5 9.72
0.333
7 16 46.41
Tu.
12
68.24
5 17.54
5 17 51
0.314
7 20 42.97
W.
13
68 17
5 24.86
5 24 83
0.295
7 24 39.53
Th.
14
68 10
5 31.71
5 31.69
0.275
7 28 36.08
Fri.
15
68.03
5 38 08
5 38.06
0.255
7 32 32.64
Sat
16
67 96
5 43.98
5 43 95
0.235
7 36 29.20
Su.
17
67.88
5 49 37
5 49 35
0.214
7 40 25.75
M..
18
67.81
5 54.24
5 54.22
0.193
7 44 22.31
Tu.
19
67 73
5 58.61
5 58.59
0.171
7 48 18.86
W.
20
67 65
6 2.45
6 2 43
0.149
7 52 15.42
Th
21
67.57
6 5.76
6 5.74
0 126
7 56 11.98
Fri
22
67'. 49
6 8.53
6 8.51
0.103
8 0 8.53
Sat
23
67.41
6 10 74
6 10 72
0.080
8 4 5.08
Su.
24
67.33
6 12 37
6 12./56
0.056
8 8 1.64
M..
25
67 25
6 13.43
6 13.43
0.032
8 11 58.20
Tu.
26
67 17
6 13 92
6 13.92
0.008
8 15 54.76
W.
27
67.08
6 13 8 !
6 13.84
0.017
8 19 51.31
Th.
28
67 00
6 13.14
6 13.15
0.041
8 23 47.87
Fri
29
66.91
6 11.85
6 11.86
0.066
8 27 44.43
Sat
30
66 82
6 9.97
6 9 98
0.091
8 31 40.98
Su.
31 |
66.73
6 7.46
6 7.47
0.117
8 35 37.54
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
trading 0.19 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same a s
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON
D. H. M.
) FirstQuarter 5 16 30.4
© Full Moon 12 10 35.5
{ Last Quarter 20 2 17.1
© New Moon 27 23 18 0
D. H.
i Perigee 8 14.9
i Apogee 20 18 0
O / ;;
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 1
H. M. S.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson,Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT APPARENT MERID.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAGE.
D. H. M. S. 0 , „ H. M.
Venus 1 3 55 7.65.. . .-18 12 0.2 2118.5
Jupiter.... 1 4 43 17. 66.... +21 41 9.4 22 3.2
Saturn... 1 17 34 51.29.. .. -22 4 52.3 10 55.6
AMERICAN
Horolosdcal
Vol. H.
NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1870
No. 2.
CONTENTS.
Chronometer Escapement, ........ 25
Me. Grossmann's Pendulum Analyzed, ... 31
Heat, . . 34
The Comeng Workmen, 36
Isochronism 39
Dialing, 40
"Watch and Clock Oil, 43
Soft Solder, 44
Watch Cleaning, 45
Answers to Correspondents, 46
Equation of Time Table, 48
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Jocknal to G. B. Mellek, P. 0. Box 6715, Xew York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Room 19.
THE CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT;
Much as it is worthy of a more extensive
treatise than can be entered upon within the
limits of an article like the present, and much
as it deserves the attention of an abler pen
than that of the writer's, yet, a great deal in
favor of the above escapement need not be
said to advocate its superior worth, for no
one who is in a measure acquainted with ho-
rology will deny that, for accuracy of time-
keeping it is the most valuable one; for wher-
ever important operations of both scientific
and practical nature depend on the exact
measurement of time, it has proved most ser-
viceable. There is, however, a class of chro-
nometers whose performance as timekeepers
has not proved worthy of this claim, and in a
previous article on this subject the writer has
endeavored to show in a measure the reason
why and the consequences thereof ; there
being an opinion, at least, among the unini-
tiated ones, that the chronometer escapement
is not as reliable for pocket use as others, or,
as it proves to be, for stationary purposes ;
this, it was said, might be tested, and the
reputation of the good chronometer vindica-
te, and in this behalf the following is respect-
fully submitted :
A thorough analysis of the principles of the
escapement, as compared with others, would
probably furnish the most conclusive evidence
in its favor, and would at the same time be
most instructive to the student ; but as this
would involve too much time and space, and
as otherwise the superiority of the escape-
ment is already admitted, the writer claims
that, if this existing opinion is proved to be
erroneous and invalid, the object is attained.
It is said by those who hold this opinion, that
the chronometer escapement is apt to set
when being carried. This could result from
no other cause than from external motion, as
affecting the vibrations of the balance. As is
known, it is not the nature of the escapement
to start of itself when the vibrations of the
balance are stopped, but the latter requires to
be moved through an arc of from 12° to 16°
before it will unlock and receive the first im-
pulse; hence it is supposed possible for ex-
ternal motion to counteract the vibrations so
as to check them below the amount of motion
required to unlock again, and in that case the
watch would stop. Now we may be able to
form an idea of the possibility of such an oc-
currence in the following way: In an escape-
ment where the locking takes place at the
second tooth from the roller, the balance re-
quires to be moved through an arc of 12° to
effect an unlocking. Assuming the vibra-
tions of the balance to be 18,000 in an hour,
hence 5 in a second, and supposing them to
describe arcs of 400°, and the external motion
of the watch during ^ of a second, the time of
one vibration, to be 80° of arc, it follows that
the motion of the balance is five times swifter
than the external motion of the watch; hence
the arcs of vibration of the former could only
be increased or decreased (according to the
direction in which the watch were moved) by
-i — that is, increased to 480°, and in the con-
trary effect decreased to 320°. Again, if we
suppose the external motion of the watch to be
three times as much, thus to describe an arc of
26
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
240° during the time of one vibration of the
balance, its velocity would still be If as great
as such external motion, and its arcs of vi-
bration could not be increased above 640°,
nor decreased below 160°. To effect two suc-
cessive unlockings during one vibration of the
balance it would require an increase of the
arcs to 720°, and to check it entirely, so as
to stop the watch, the latter would have to be
moved through an arc nearly equal in extent
to the arcs of vibrations, and in the same
time in which one of them is completed.
Now it must be remembered that only such
external motions of the watch could influence
the vibrations of the balance as describe
circles, and very small ones too, for the larger
the circle of arc the nearer would it be in a
straight line ; and if a watch were moved in
a straght line, however swift such motion
might be, it could not have any influence on
the vibrations of the balance, for th eeffect
of such motion on one side of the line would
be counteracted by the effect of the same
motion on the other side of the line ; and
hence the idea entertained by so many work-
men, that the simple act of taking a watch
out of the pocket and putting it back again
is sometimes sufficient to stop it, may be set
down as altogether erroneous; and if a watch
does stop in that or any other way, the cause
of it must be looked for elsewhere. Guided
by these reflections, those who have hitherto
entertained such an idea, may probably be
able to calculate for themselves the chances
of the setting of a chronometer from the
effect of external motion.
Other and more important considerations
determine, however, the superiority of the
escapement. We all know the pernicious
influence of friction. The lever, for instance,
not to speak of inferior escapements, how-
ever well all its parts may be executed, can
never be made so as not to be subject to
a large share of it ; while in the impulse-
giving and locking action of the chronometer
this evil can be reduced to its minimum,
and hence the acting portions of this escape-
ment require no oil, which, of itself, is a very
great advantage. It is the writer's humble
opinion that this escapement is the only
one worthy of the tedious labor of the
adjustment of a compensation balance, as
well as that of the isochronism of the hair-
spring.
But it is the object of these articles to fur-
nish something of real and practical informa-
tion to those who are working at the trade,
and are desirous of learning. It may happen,
by accident or otherwise, that the spring in a
chronometer escapement gets broken, or
needs replacing with a new one for other
reasons, such as when it has been worked at
and spoiled by an inexperienced hand ; how
to replace it properly the following is in-
tended to show :
Lines S in Figures 1, 2, 3 represent the
position of the detent spring in three differ-
ent escapements. Fig. 1 illustrates that of
the ordinary English chronometer, where the
locking takes place at the second tooth from
the roller, and the spring is in the detent
itself. Figures 2 and 3 are both of Swiss make,
where the detents are levers moving on an
axis, and sprung by a hairspring, and both
lock at the third tooth from the roller,
though their positions are different. In Fig.
1, after G, the centre of the wheel, and G,
the centre of the balance, are fixed, and the re-
lative diameters of wheel and roller are devel-
oped according to principles given in the pre-
ceding article on the Chronometer Escape-
ment, the position of the spring and its locking
point is found in the following manner : From
the centre, G, a line, E, is drawn, so that it will
form an angle of 36° with line T ; through
the point of intersection of this line, and the
circumference of the wheel, and from the
centre, C, fine S is drawn, representing the
line of the detent — its locking point being at
E. In Figures 2 and 3, with radii, G C, and
C G, circles M and N are drawn, from the
point of contact of which, and the centre, G,
line E is drawn, forming with line T an angle
of 60° — the distance between two teeth
and a-half. In Fig. 2, the line S of the
detent is drawn as in Fig. 1 ; but in Fig. 3 at
a tangent to the circle of the wheel, and a
right angle to Hue E, E A being the tangent,
and the rest afterwards carried out, either in
a straight line with another right angle at
the end, or in a curve toward the centre of
the balance.
"With respect to the inclination of the lock-
ing surface of the detent jewel, the writer begs
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
28
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
leave to correct an indiscrimination in the last
article, where he says that the locking sur-
face should form an angle of 12°, with a line
from the centre of the wheel, which could
not be admissible in many instances. The
object of its inclination is to create a draw on
the detent when the tooth is inlocking. In
the case of Fig. 1, 12° inclination to a line
from the centre of the wheel would be almost
at right angles with the line of the detent, on
which there could be no draw, owing to the
position of the locking point in the detent ;
the line of inclination then should be such,
that while it is to effect this draw, it should
not, on the other hand, offer too much resist-
ance to the unlocking. It dare not be in the
same line with the inclination of the tooth in
locking, for to effect a good draw, and create
the least friction by it, the point of the tooth
only must be in contact with the surface of
the jewel. In the case of Fig. 1 then, where
12° inclination are not sufficient, and the
tooth would have 26°, we may divide the re-
mainder, adding it to the 12° ; thus giving
the detent jewel an inclination of from 18° to
19°, leaving still enough to the tooth to effect
a good draw.
In Fig. 2, the point of locking in the detent
is such, that the line of the locking surface of
the jewel can coincide with a line from the
centre of the wheel ; indeed it dare not be
otherwise. That in Fig. 3 does not require
more than 8° or 10° inclination, owing to the
locking taking place at right angles with the
line of the detent.
If, then, a spring is to be made for any of
the three escapements illustrated, the first
thing required to be known is, the true place
of the locking point in it. Point A in the
diagrams is supposed to be some point in the
spring which the line S of the detent shall
bisect, and from which, in Figures 1 and 2,
the distances to C, the centre of the balance,
and G, the centre of the wheel, can conveni-
ently be measured. In Figures 2 and 3, this
point is the pivot hole of the detent staff;
but in Fig. 1 it may be the screw hole in the
foot of the spring ; or better still, one of the
holes of the steady pins, if such are in the
line of the detent. The diameter of the es-
cape wheel must also be measured. Then, by
trigonometry, in Figs. 1 and 2, we have A, C, G,
minus C, G, E; C, G, and E, G, as well as the
angle, C, G, E, being known, the distance, C, E, •
can readily be found. The value of C E being
found, subtract it from C A, and the remainder
will be E A — the distance required to be known.
In Fig. 3 the work is much more simple, for
here it is only necessary to measure the dis-
tance G A, and we have the right angle tri-
angle G E A, from which those who are ac-
quainted with Geometry (47 Prop. Euclid)
will easily find the value of E A.
For those who are not possessing the knowl-
edge of these sciences the following method
for determining the true point of locking may
serve, which will be equally correct provided
the workman has a good measuring instru-
ment as well as drawing tools, without which
it would be useless to attempt it. Supposing
a spring, as in Fig. 1, is required to be made ;
measure the distance C A in the watch accu-
rately, multiply it by ten, and draw a line
joining such increased distance, representing
line S in diagram 1 ; then measure the dis-
tances A G and C G in the watch, multiply
each also by ten, and with such increased dis-
tances as radii, draw circles TJ and V, in the
point of contact of which circles the true
centre, G, of the wheel is found ; connect G C
by line T, and from it and the centre G, lay
out with a good protractor an angle of 36°
and draw line E ; now measure the distance
E A, divide the sum by ten, and the quotient
will be the actual length from the point A, to
the true locking point of the detent. If, then,
this distance is known, the workman may
proceed to make the spring ; and here it is
necessary to say that great care is to be exer-
cised, as well in the choice of the steel as also
in the preparation thereof. Take several bars
of the best English square steel, examine
them in the break and choose that one which
has the finest grain, and of a silver gray ap-
pearance ; cut a piece of ample length, draw
the temper by heating it to a dark cherry red,
leaving it to cool off slowly ; when cool, ham-
mer it very evenly, but only on those sides
which are intended for the sides of the spring,
and then file the piece up perfectly square,
i. e., all its sides at right angles with each
other ; now, over both surfaces which are
intended for the top and lower side of the
spring, and through the middle and the whole
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
29
length of it, draw with a sharp steel a distinct
line — being the line S represented in dia-
grams 1, 2, 3 ; in this line drill a hole straight
through the piece for the point A, and at the
calculated distance from it mark the locking
point E by drawing a line across the piece
on the tipper side and at right angles with
the first line. On this last line a hole for the
locking jewel must be drilled, and so that the
line S will cut one-fourth of its whole dia-
meter on that side which is the inside of the
spring ; it should be drilled with a drill that
will make a hole of exactly the size which
the diameter of the jewel requires, so that
it will need no reaming out, and on a
straight-bore machine or on the lathe, in order
to get it perfectly straight through the piece.
When this is done the workman may proceed
to file up the piece ; and, to save a long and
tedious description of this process, Fig. 4 has
been drawn, showing the top and inside
view of a spring according to which pattern
it may be shaped. Still, though the intelli-
gent workman will be able to help himself, a
few points may be particularly noticed for
his guidance. It is advisable to file up
D, the foot of the spring, first, and put a
temporary steady pin in, and bore the hole
for the screw, so that he will be able to try
it when filing down the rest of the piece from
the top to adjust its height to that of the
wheel ; when this is filed down to the proper
height the line S must again be drawn over
the top of it, and in the same way as it was
before, for this line must guide him in filing
up the rest to its proper shape. The next
point is the filing of the round portion at E
in Fig. I. In order to get this perfectly round
he may turn up on the lathe two pieces of
steel like two screws, whose heads shall be of
exactly the same diameters, and of just the
size of which the outside diameter of the
cy finder is to be ; the other part of these two
pieces must fit the hole for the jewel ; harden
these pieces and cement one of them in the
top of the hole, the other into the bottom,
according to which the rounding can be filed.
At F a little projection must be left standing,
just a little higher than the rest of that por-
tion, which will serve for a bearing to prevent
the gold spring from turning sideways when
being screwed on. After all the different
heights and sides have been filed to their
proper shape, the length of the point of the
spring from E on, must be approximately deter-
mined by trying it with the unlocking roller
in the watch ; then the spring portion S must
be filed out, and care must be had that the
line S will always bisect what is left standing.
The whole length of this portion may com-
prise a little more than one-third of the length
from the foot of the spring to the point, E, of
locking, and should not be filed too thin yet.
The hole for the screw which fastens the gold
spring must then be bored and tapped, after
which the spring may be hardened. This is
often done by careful workmen in a small sheet-
iron box filled with powdered charcoal, into
which the spring is laid and heated red hot over
a forge ; but a simpler method is the following :
Wash the spring well with soap and water,
dip it into alcohol and dry in fine saw-dust ;
take a piece of flat steel, considei-ably thicker
than the spring, and equally as long or longer,
fasten it upon a good piece of charcoal, lay
a few other pieces of coal around it so as to
concentrate the heat, and upon this piece of
steel lay the spring, after which it may be
heated with a blowpipe. When it commences
to get warm, and before it colors, rub the
upper surface with a little soap and then pro-
ceed to heat it to a cherry red ; care must be
had not to blow a pointed flame at it, but
evenly diffused, and so that the piece of steel
upon which it lays will become red hot too ;
when both are cherry red, drop the spring
vertically into a tumbler of water ; the spring
should be laid upon the piece of steel so that
when it drops the heavy end will be for emost.
If it is hardened in th::s wise it will be found
that the side which was touched with soap
will come out perfectly clean and white ; now
color it on the blueing pan to a dark yellow,
and then grind all the surfaces of it with oil-
stone dust, wash it again in the above men-
tioned manner, and proceed to temper it to an
even blue. After this grind all the sur-
faces again with oil-stone dust to their final
shape, and by means of a soft piece of
steel, filed flat, take all the corners
off and polish them, and then proceed
to grind the spring portion. To this pur-
pose the workman should file up a piece of
brass, as represented in Fig. 5, to be held in
30
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the vice. The pins on the top must be at
such distances apart from each other as the
width of each portion of the two shoulders
between which the spring is to be ground out
requires; and the length of the piece must be
such, that the spring part will be clear be-
tween the pins. Tae top should be filed per-
fectly flat, and the part between the pins
filed out on each side vertically, so as to allow
the shoulders of the spring to sink below the
surface, and the spring to come down flat on
it ; the whole should be fitted so, that when
the spring is laid across it, with the spring
portion between the pins, it should be held
steady, yet not be cramped. On this piece of
brass the workman may now, with perfect
safety, grind down both sides of the spring
until it is the required thickness, keeping in
mind all the time that it represents the line
S in the drawings ; and with a piece of soft
steel, the corners of which are a little rounded
off, so that the spring will become a little
conical from its shoulders, to prevent its
breaking easily. It should thus be ground
down to a thickness of 0.03 millimetres. The
width of the piece of brass, in Fig. 5, should
be full 15 millimetres, which will prevent the
side of the spring from becoming rounded or
uneven. When in this wise the spring is
finished, the jewel must be cemented in ; but
before that, the inside of the round portion,
E, which is to come against the set-screw,
must be ground flat. To cement the jewel in
properly, a piece of brass or steel of the same
size and shape as the jewel must be made
and fitted into the hole with it, so that they
are both loose enough to be turned around ;
cement this piece on to the jewel first, with
shellac, and afterwards cement them both
together in the hole. To examine whether
the surface of the jewel stands at the requi-
site inclination, say 18° to a line from the
centre of the wheel, file one side of a brass
plate straight ; draw a sharp line over the
surface of the plate, cutting that side at
angles 95° and 85°, and so, that when the
plate is held in front of the jewel, and the
line across it will coincide with the line of
the detent, the angle 95° will be on the
outside of the spring ; if now the front surface
of the jewel coincides with the front of the
plate, all is right ; if not, it must be made so.
In reference to finishing up the side sur-
faces of the spring it may be said that, though
many workmen pride themselves in doing so,
it is quite useless to polish them ; a dead oil-
stone surface will answer all purposes ;
or a very beautiful ground surface can be
obtained by using fine powdered sapphire,
and grinding it in regular lines across the
piece. Rotten-stone, used on copper, or any
other metal, will produce a similar surface.
Much time and labor is often wasted in
polishing up surfaces, which are of no im-
portance. Not unfrequently workmen will
put an exquisite finish on parts which are
seen in the watch, while they may be altoge-
ther lacking their geometrical proportion ;
or the parts which are in action, and ought
to be well polished, are left rough. Thus, it
is not seldom that we see a fork in an anchor
watch beautifully polished on the top surface,
while the inside of the fork is roughly filed,
too wide for the ruby pin, and the weight of
the fork altogether out of poise. Other parts
of watches are similarly neglected in their
essential requisites.
To return once more to our subject, a de-
tent spring should be made as light as possible,
for then the spring in it can also be made
weaker, which will offer less resistance to the
unlocking, while the locking will be just as safe.
If an unlocking spring is to be made, it
should be made of 18 kr. gold, rolled out to
very nearly the requisite thickness. It can
be filed by holding it in the sliding tongs
between two pieces of metal, which must
previously have been filed straight, and
should be made a little narrower than the
front end of the detent. The hole for the
screw in the foot of it must be bored and the
end fitted against the bearing on the detent
so that it will not move side ways when being
screwed on. Its sides should be ground with
a fine blue water-stone lengthwise on a broad
flat piece of steel, holding it down by the
foot, and only drawing the stone over it from
the foot towards the front end ; its front end
should be ground to a thickness of 0.06 mil-
limetre, and ^diminishing towards the
foot to 0.02 millimetre. When screwed on
to the detent it must be bent to its requisite
shape, so that the front end will rest with a
little pressure on the end of the detent, tak-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
31
ing care that the end of it will again coincide
with line S. Its accurate length can only be
determined when it is tried in the watch.
The preceding instructions ought to contain
sufficient to guide any workman in the mak-
ing of a detent spring, even should it be re-
quired to make a spring for either Figure 2 or
3 of the cuts ; only as in these last the detent
is not a spring, but a lever moving on an axis,
a weight must be left standing at the outer
end to balance the detent perfectly. There
may be said to be three requisites for the suc-
cessful accomplishing of the task : first, that
the workman has good and new files, and not
very coarse ones ; second, that he understands
distinctly how the spring is to be made ; and
third, that he does not cease until he has
made one so. Th. Gribi.
"Wilmington, Del.'
MR. GROSSMAXN'S NEW IMPROVED PENDULUM
ANALYZED.
In the last number of the Horological
Journal there appeared a communication
from Mr. Grossmann, of Saxony, on the sub-
ject of a new improved mercurial pendulum.
As I cannot see any advantage that can be
gained by using this pendulum over the old
Graham one, which I know has its faults ;
and as Mr. Grosssman invites criticism, I reply
to some of the assertions he advances ; and
in doing so, I do not wish to be considered arro-
gant in presuming to review this production
of your distinguished correspondent in Ger-
many.
Mr. G. founds the necessity for his new
arrangement upon the following experiment :
" If you suspend two thermometers on a wall,
the one three feet higher than the other, it
will be found that in an artificially heated
room the upper thermometer shows about 3°
R. (= 7° Eahr.) more heat than the lower
one, in accordance with well known physical
laws." I have very frequently placed two
thermometers, one at each end of a seconds
pendulum. These pendulums were some-
times nearly encased in glass, sometimes they
were partly encased in glass and stone or
xnarble, and sometimes in wooden cases that
were placed in rooms artificially heated ; but
I have never noticed more than about 1°
Eahr. of difference between the top and bot-
tom of any of the pendulums. Last winter,
while experimenting with a new apparatus,
designed to regulate the supply of heat that
passed into a room artificially heated by hot-
air passing through openings in the floor, I
placed a number of thermometers in the
apartment, in order to test the regularity of
its temperature, and there was but a very
slight difference between those thermometers
that were but a few feet above the others. In
talking over the subject in question to a friend
the other day, he very forcibly and piquantly
said " that if that was so, a man six feet high,
and the heat of his body being in a state of
perfect equilibrium, would suddenly find his
head to be 14° warmer than his feet, in going
into an artificially heated room in winter ;" a
sensation which probably few people have
experienced in this part of the world.
I admit that there is some difference be-
tween the temperature of the air near the floor
of a room, and the air near the ceiling ; but it
must be only under very peculiar circumstan-
ces that so much difference as nearly 7° Fahr.
takes place in the short distance of three
feet ; and most assuredly that difference does
not exist between the two ends of pendulums,
in the position clocks are usually placed,
whether they be in inhabited rooms or in As-
tronomical Observatories.
Mr. G. further considers that " the mer-
curial pendulum, which performs admirably
in an Astronomical Observatory, generally
fails in parlors and inhabited rooms." The
stores and shops of marine chronometer
makers, may, in many instances, be considered
analogous to parlors or inhabited rooms ;
and I will venture to state that at the present
day a majority of the marine chronometers
in the world are rated from clocks placed
in these rooms, and having Graham pendu-
lums. I have never seen or heard of an in-
stance where a clock made with the most
ordinary care, failed to answer every purpose
of a private dwelling on account of it having
a Graham pendulum. No house clocks are
liable to be subjected to greater or more
sudden changes of temperature than those
that are employed in Astronomical Observa-
tories, where the system of observing by tha
32
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
eye and the ear is still maintained ; for when
the shutters in the roof, or in the dome, are
opened, the clocks are subjected to whatever
extremes of temperature may be outside ; yet
under these severe ordeals the Graham pen-
dulum has earned the reputation it holds at
the present day.
Having discussed the question of tempera-
ture, I will now proceed to consider the sub-
ject of Mr. Grossmann's improvements ; but
I would first notice that the pendulum he
gives us will not beat seconds with a ball
17.7 in. long, and the total length of the pen-
dulum only about 48.43 in. With such a
heavy rod it must be made considerable
longer to do so. However, this may simply
be a mistake, and in no way does it compro-
mise the principles involved in tbe pendulum
itself.
For his improvements, Mr. G. claims as
follows :
" It will be easily seen that this arrange-
ment has the following advantages :
" 1. Equal thickness of the compensating
parts, and, in consequence of this, equal sen-
sibility of the same to changes of temperature.
(The trifling difference between the diameter
of zinc rod and that of iron jars or tubes will
be made up by the greater heat-conducting
power of the iron.)"
This is also the idea of Mr. Coffinberry, of
Grand Rapids, Mich., that the rod should be
the same thickness as the column of mercury,
in order that they may be equally affected,
by a sudden change of temperature, exactly
at the same time. Apparently this is a plau-
sible theory, and doubtless the size of the
one should bear a relative proportion to the
size of the other ; but to make them the same
is a fallacy ; it is fallacious in various ways.
In seeking for compensation, the fundamen-
tal laws upon which the fabric of the pendu-
lum is built are violated — gives the pendulum a
much longer length than is necessary, and
increases rather than diminishes the difficulty
of compensation. If the materials that com-
pose the pendulum had all the same natural
properties for absorbing and radiating heat,
and if the pendulum stood at rest, like a ther-
mometer, then there might be a necessity for
having all the parts of the same thickness ;
but this is not so. And further, when the
pendulum is in motion the mercury passes
through a greater space of air than the rod,
and renders it liable from that cause, in
addition to its natural sensitiveness, to be
acted upon before the small rod is affected.
It is quite common in some parts of the
world to place a piece of plate glass inside
the case, in front of the pendulum ball, to
protect the mercury from sudden changes if
the clock chances to stand before a door, and
good results are said to follow. Personally I
am convinced, that as a general thing the
mercury is acted upon before the rod ; and
were this not the fact, the short column of
rnercury usually employed for steel rods
would not do the work it does. (See page
31], Vol. I.)
The next claim contains the distinctive fea-
ture of the pendulum :
" 2. Considerable diminution of the defect
of compensation in the mercurial pendulum,
arising from the difference of temperature in
the different heights in which the compen-
sating elements are moving. In Graham's
mercurial pendulum the mercury constitutes
about the sixth part of the length of the pen-
dulum, while the rod, beginning above the
mercury, makes up the other five-sixths of it.
The above-described improved mercurial
pendulum has its zinc rod passing through
the frame down to the lower end of the pen-
dulum, and the mercury column constitutes
more than one-third of the total length."
The inventor, unlike all other inventors
that have preceded him, has selected a metal
that will expand the most, to make the rod,
in preference to one that will expand the
least, as is usually done. The object of this
selection is, that the columns of mercury will,
of a necessity, be much longer than usual, in
order to compensate the extra expansion of
the rod, and thereby have the top of the mer-
cury nearer the top of the rod, with the in-
tention that it will, as nearly as possible, be
subject to the same temperature as the rod,
and make it move like the Gridiron pendu-
lum, whose compensating rods accompany
each other, side by side, nearly the entire
length of the pendulum. Mr. G. appears to
forget that the principles of compensation in
the Graham and his own proposed pendulum,
are altogether different from the Gridiron.
In the one the effects of the expansion of
the rod is counteracted by the ball being in-
creased or diminished in length, while in
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
33
the other the entire ball is raised up or let
down.
I will illustrate by a familiar example what
would be the practical effect of having columns
of mercury extend so high above the centre
of oscillation — and the inventor would have
these columns extend to the top could he so
arrange it. It is customary, sometimes, to
regulate a pendulum by a small weight that
shifts up and down on the pondulum rod.
Huyghens demonstrated the theory of this
method of regulation, aud he graduated a
scale to show how much the small ball had to
be shifted to make a given alteration in the
rate of the clock. These graduations vary in
length, as the weight ascends the rod, till a
point is reached that whether the weight is
moved up or down, the effect on the rate of
the clock is the same. Mr. G. makes the mer-
cury to come up to about 20.73 in. from the
point of suspension, and Graham has about
36 in. From Huyghens' demonstration it
will be observed that the expansion of the
mercury columns will have a variation in their
value as the length of the columns extend up
the rod ; for, as previously stated, the entire
effective weight of the ball is not raised by
expansion or lowered by contraction, but
only part of it ; and if these mercury columns
were extended to a given point between
the centre of oscillation and the point of sus-
pension, the effect of the compensation
would be nearly, if not altogether, neutralized.
In contradistinction to Mr. Grossmann's
pendulum, I will instance the glass one,
where the cylinder and rod are blown in one
piece. These pendulums are very rare, but
it has often occurred to me that it was the
best way a pendulum on Graham's plan
could be made. The little expansion of the
material takes but a short column of mercury
to compensate it, and allows the mass that
constitutes the pendulum to be concentrated
as far away from the point of suspension as
possible, and thereby comes nearer to the
ideal pendulum of "a material point sus-
pended by an imaginary line," than any other
form of compensation pendulum that there
is.
The inventor also claims :
" 3. Reduction of the resistance of the air
to the least amount."
Galileo first gave ocular demonstration,
from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Italy, that
if two bodies of the same form and density,
but of different sizes, are let fall from a given
point at the same time, they will reach the
ground together. This same law governs the
motion of the pendulum ; and according to
Galileo's indisputable theory, one of Mr.
Grossmann's small jars meets the same resist-
ance as Graham's large one ; they being both
of the same shape, and being both filled with
mercury, are of the same density, although
very different in size. Let us look at it from
another view, having no connection with this
law. Graham has a cylinder about 2 in.
diameter, and 7 in. long, which by calculation
gives an outside surface of 43.4 in. Gross-
mann has four cylinders, each 0.73 in. diame-
ter, and 17.7 in. long, which makes the outside
surface 160.2 in. If the nature of the resist-
ance of bodies passing slowly through the
air, be the same as bodies passing through
water, only in a proportionably less degree,
the result must be greatly in favor of the
Graham pendulum. To recapitulate : Gra-
ham's one jar has an outside surface resist-
ance of 43.4 in., while Grossman's four jars
have 160.2 in. of surface exposed to the air.
I have now gone over all the distinguish-
ing features of this pendulum, and I hope
that the reader will reflect and consider the
subject well. Remember that the error that
is to be cured is not one of several seconds,
but of tenths of seconds. The nearer we get
to perfection the approach becomes the more
difficult. However simple it may seem at
first, it is a subject closely allied to a great
many other intricate questions, and superfi-
cial thinking, or looking only from one point,
will not do. I hope that this discussion will
continue till we get a correct compensation
pendulum.
I believe, in the Patent Laws generally; it
is the inalienable right of every man to receive
all due credit and protection for his ideas or
productions ; but while that is my expressed
belief, I hope that we will have no more patent
pendulums ; they savor too much of patent
medicine. It is a subject too sublime, and of
too little commercial importance, to be made
the subject of a patent. Probably I work as
hard, and spend as much time on this ques-
34
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
lion, as most people; yet I would as soon
think of taking a patent out for a pendulum,
as I would if I was successful in squaring
the circle, or solving any other equally diffi-
cult problem.
Clyde.
HEAT.
NUMBER ONE.
INTRODUCTION. CALORIC IS HEAT A SUBSTANCE?
OPINIONS AND EXPERIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS
CONCERNING IT, ETC.
In this number we commence a series of
ai tides on Heat, designed to be of general
interest. We propose to exhaust this com-
prehensive subject in a series of papers de-
scribing the nature and effects of heat in
general, — the laws of its transmission — its
effects on all bodies, especially metals — and
its practical application to the many mechani-
cal arts interesting to the Horological com-
munity.
Heat is unquestionably one of the most im-
portant agents employed by nature in form-
ing the constitution of bodies, and in pro-
ducing that unceasing change observable in
the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
There is scarcely any department of physical
science in which the nature and properties of
heat do not in some way enter into our con-
sideration. The meaning of the word heat is
so well understood, that any attempt to
define it is unnecessary. When we say that
a person feels heat, or that a piece of metal is
hot, the expression we understand readily ;
yet in each of these propositions the word
heat has a distinct meaning. In the first it
signifies the sensation of heat, and in the
other the cause of that sensation. To avoid
the supposed ambiguity of these two mean-
ings to one word, the term caloric was in-
vented by the French to signify the cause of
heat. When you place your hand on a hot
piece of metal, you experience a certain sen-
sation which is called the sensation of heat.
The cause of this sensation is caloric. In
ancient philosophy it was commonly said
ihat heat occasioned the warmth and expan-
sion of bodies, and likewise that heat was
excited in bodies by the addition of some
peculiar kind of matter, or by a certain modi-
fication of their particles. The more precise
nomenclature of the moderns has tended to
correct this error, and led to the invention of
the new term caloric, to designate the cause,
while the word heat is, strictly speaking, only
applicable to the effect. As, however, in all
the older authors, the former phraseology
necessarily exists as it is adopted in popular
language, there is no danger of falling into
any error, since the distinction has been so
fully pointed out ; the word heat is frequently
used in this double sense, even by the latest
and most correct writers, and it will be used
by us in this way in the following articles.
Two opinions respecting the nature of heat
have divided philosophers. According to
some, like gravity, it is merely a property of
matter ; while others contend that it is a
substance, capable of a separate existence,
and possessing a material, although very sub-
tile, nature. The latter opinion was at first
broached by the chemists, and at present is
acceded to by nearly all philosophers ; yet
there are, on the contraiy, many eminent
men who regard it merely as a property
necessarily attached to other matter, and
arising from some peculiar modification or
affection of it. Bacon adopted the latter
opinion, and conceived that heat depended
on a vibration of the particles of matter ; a
hypothesis which he advanced to substantiate
by showing that whatever excited tempera-
ture tended also to produce a motion in the
particles of the heated body. His description
of that peculiar nature signifies " a reaction
between the expansive force of heat and the
attractive force of the particles of matter
toward each other." The idea of Bacon, that
heat depends on a vibratory motion among
the particles of matter, received the powerful
sanction of Sir Isaac Newton ; but as observa-
tions on the phenomena of nature were multi-
plied, and especially as chemical science
advanced, the hypothesis which considered
heat as merely consisting in the motion of
particles in matter appeared less easy to re-
concile with the new discoveries, and conse-
quently a different doctrine was advanced,
in which the effects of heat were attributed
to a species of subtile fluid, of a proper
material nature, although differing in many
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
35
important particulars from any other kind of
matter.
Our limits will not permit us to take a very-
full view of all the arguments that have been
urged on both sides of the question ; but we
must endeavor to give a sketch of some of the
principal points that have been adduced by the
advocates of each of these opinions. It will
Scarcely be denied that if we admit the exist-
ence of a subtile elastic fluid, the particles of
which are endowed with a repulsive power
which tends to unite itself to all kinds of
matter — to insinuate itself into their pores —
to produce their expansion, and, if added in
sufficient quantity, to impart to them its own
elastic nature, we are possessed of an agent
which very conveniently explains a great
variety of phenomena ; but this hypothesis,
however, has been strongly opposed by
Rumford on the strength of the following
experiment of developing heat by friction.
A piece of brass was fixed in a machine for
boring cannon, and a steel cylinder was
pressed against the brass, with a force equal
to 1,000 lbs., and then made to revolve on its
axis with a given velocity. After some pre-
paratory experiments the apparatus was all
enclosed in a vessel of water, and after the
friction had been kept up for some time, the
water was actually brought to the boiling
heat. Here a very considerable quantity of
heat was liberated, and the only mechanical
change effected on the materials, was that a
quantity of brass turnings or scrapings were
formed ; but neither the brass nor the cylinder
itself appears to have experienced any
change, except a slight degree of compres-
sion. Rumford found, by experiment, that
the capacity of these turnings or scrapings
would not be affected by the operation ; and
the effect of the compression which the
metal had experienced, must have been very
inconsiderable ; yet, the power of the sub-
stance to extricate heat was apparently un-
limited ; for there is no reason to suppose
that anything like exhaustion was produced,
or that the apparatus would not have con-
tinued to evolve heat, until its texture had
been destroyed by the brass being all reduced
to fragments.
Although there is no direct experiment to
prove the independent existence of heat, as a
material substance, there are none except
those of Rumford, and some of a similar
nature, to prove the immaterial doctrine.
Besides, although we have admitted that
there is no direct experiment to prove the
independent existence of heat, or at least
none against which some exception has not
been taken, yet there are facts brought for-
ward, perhaps as decisive on the one side as
those of friction on the other. We refer
to the transmission of heat through a
vacuum. Pictet proved that this takes
place in the vacuum of the air-pump, and
Rumford himself has shown it is capable
of passing even through the Torricellian
vacuum.
There seems no method of reconciling this
fact with the hypothesis, except taking for
granted the existence of some kind of vapor
or elastic fluid, with which it is propagated ;
a supposition equally gratuitous, and equally
unsupported by direct and independent facts,
as that for which it is substituted. It seems
extremely improbable, if not impossible,
that rays of heat are carried along by the
air, even when near the surface of the earth,
and in coming from the sun they must
necessarily travel an immense distance totally
devoid of air. Herschel, while employed in
examining the sun by means of telescopes,
thought of examining the heating powers of
the different rays of light, separated by the
prism. He found the most refrangible rays
had the least heating power, and that the
heating power gradually increases as the re-
frangibility diminishes. The violet rays have
of course the least, and the red rays the
greatest heating power. It struck Dr.
Herschel as remarkable that the illuminating
power and heating power follow different
laws — the illuminating power being greatest
in the middle of the spectrum, and the heat-
ing power being greatest at the red end.
This led him to consider that the heating
power did not stop at the end of the spec-
trum. On trying the experiment he found
that a thermometer placed a little beyond the
spectrum rose still higher than in the red
ray ; hence it follows that there are rays
emitted from the sun which produce heat,
but have no power of illumination ; conse-
quently, heat is emitted from the sun in rays,
36
AMEKICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOURNAL
and the rays of heat are not the same as the
rays of light.
Professor Leslie, to whom science is so
mnch indebted for so many experiments,
adopted the hypothesis which ascribed the
effects of heat to a certain motion among the
particles of bodies. He conceives that the
propagation and transmission of heat is very
similar to that of sound ; and, in fact, it con-
sists of certain aerial undulations. The pas-
sage of heat is, therefore, of the same velocity
with the undulation of the air, or, rather, is
identical with it. Professor Leslie, however,
seems to have advanced this hypothesis
merely as a convenient manner of accounting
for his own experiments. He has not stated
it in such a way as to apply to all the phenom-
ena of heat, nor has he attempted to recon-
cile it with the experiments of Herschel and
others, which appear decidedly adverse to it.
Before we conclude these observations con-
cerning the immateriality of heat, it will be
proper to notice the experiments which have
been made, in order to ascertain whether it
be actually possessed of gravity, or, rather,
whether its weight can be measured by a
balance. The best contrived experiments of
this description were those of Fordyce. He
very carefully weighed a quantity of water ;
froze the water, and then again weighed it.
Now, he argued that in this process the water
must have parted with the latent heat which
maintained it in a liquid form ; so that if
heat be a ponderable substance it might be
expected that the ice would exhibit a diminu-
tion in its weight equivalent to that of the
caloric which had escaped. The result, how-
ever, did not correspond with this idea ; and,
indeed, in some of the most accurate trials it
seemed as if the body that had parted with
its heat had even acquired a slight addition
of weight. It is, however, generally admitted
that no decisive conclusion can be drawn from
such experiments, and that from the concep-
tion that we have of the extreme tenuity of
heat, it is not probable that any portion which
we can have in our power to impart to a body
could be detected by the instruments that we
employ in ascertaining the weight of bodies.
The further consideration of this subject
would involve us in a discussion that would
exceed the limits to which we are necessarily
restricted. Upon the whole, we are strongly
inclined to the opinion in favor of the ma-
teriality of heat, because we think it explains
the phenomena in general with greater
facility, and is encumbered with less difficul-
ties than the immaterial hypothesis ; yet we
must remember that it is not decisively proved
by any direct or unexceptional experiments,
and it must also be acknowledged that it has
not received the sanction of some eminent
philosophers, both in comparatively ancient
and also in modern times.
THE COMING WORKMEN.
How are they to be educated ? is a problem
which seems to be troublesome to solve. At
present there is no scarcity of workmen of a
sort, but really good ones are very difficult to
obtain. By good ones we do not mean abso-
lutely scientific as well as practical, but
simply good practical mechanics. Thoroughly
educated ones we never can expect to find as
a class, so long as the community are ignor-
ant of the requirements for a good mechanic.
As things now are, hand workers, without
heads, answer better the demand of the public,
which is cheapness, than any other class ; and
until they are brought by dearly purchased
experience to see the folly of squandering
money on that class of workmen, there is no
use to urge a higher standard of qualification.
But even the race of passably good hand
workers seems to be in danger of extermina-
tion. The old mode of education seems
nearly obsolete ; there are no adequate means
(legal) to compel persons to become profi-
cients ; the apprenticeship laws are a dead
letter, even the " one cent reward " with the
picture of a lad with a bundle over his
shoulder suspended on a stick, has disappear-
ed from the newspaper advertisements, and
with its disappearance all vestige of the
mechanical apprenticeship system seems to
have vanished, and the trade seem to have
settled themselves down to the belief that for
anything like fair workmen they must depend
upon chance foreigners, who are often driven
to emigrate from their own country for lack
of the requisite skill to find employment in
it. For the rough work, requiring no skill,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
37
they depend upon boys who happen along
and " want to learn the trade," and they
manage to use them to open shop, sweep out,
run of errands, turn grindstone, and tinker
clocks, till they are filled to overflowing with
the idea of having a shop of their own to
open, and being themselves "proprietors."
These are the kind of workmen that are
turned loose upon the community to supply
the craving call for cheap labor.
No really good mechanic, who knows his
ability and takes a manly pride in it, will be
annoyed by such apprentices ; there is no
profit in it, no pleasure, and no pride in it ;
the artisan feels that his profession is dis-
graced by turning cut such men, and calling
them workmen. But the 'dear [public stand
with mouths wide agape, like little birdlings
in a nest, clamoring to be stuffed with a big
morsel of " Humbug," and so they swallow
the cheapest workman and are satisfied.
Humbug grows rich and fat, and honest
skill can scarcely make the two ends meet.
The only remedy for this state of things is
to educate the public to know and realize the
irurueasurable distance there is between the
two, and in some little degree be brought to
understand the necessity for real scientific
skill in the repair of watches, even more than
in their construction ; then they would be
more cautious about intrusting their watches
to the ignorant workman.
Our requirements here for a workman
who can truly be called good are somewhat
different from the European standard. In
the United States what little constructing
is done is confined exclusively to the estab-
lished factories, and all the knowledge re-
quired of the workmen in them is, dexterity
in running the various machines. The tech-
nical science required in the original design-
ing and laying out the work is not required
in the subsequent mechanical manipulations.
A thorough understanding how to lay out the
work, define the proper place for each part,
and determine, with the positive accuracy of
science, the proper proportion which each
part should bear to every other part, and
with the requisite knowledge of isometrical
drawing to transfer the design to paper, is
the mental capital absolutely necessary to
start a watch factory. Then, when the proper
automatic machines are constructed, only
art is required to run them.
Abroad, both in England and on the conti-
nent, each manufacturer gets up his own
design, plans his own particular make of
watch, and its performance and quality as a
timekeeper are in exact proportion to his ap-
proximation to scientific principles of con-
struction. For it is established incontro-
vertibly that there are positive laws of
proportion applicable to every part of a
watch, which cannot be violated without loss
of effect. The consequence of this diversity
of design and construction is an equal
diversity of watches that are cast upon the
market. What workman of experience does
not know the difference between Coventry
and Clerkenwell movements ? There is
scarcely more difference between a Paris and
a Swartzwald clock.
The British Horological Institute was estab-
lished for the purpose of correcting, if pos-
sible, this difficulty, which seemed to threaten
serious damage to the whole watch trade of
England. The Institute is laboring earnestly
to establish classes of workmen for instruc-
tion in the principles of the art. Believing
that science can only add to, not detract
from, a man's ability, however expert he may
be in a practical point of view, and that " ex-
perience, however extended, could not but be
profited by the acquisition of facts, wherever
gathered, from learned men of all ages," and
to teach such facts, and to communicate all
such scientific knowledge as is applicable to
Horology, is the primary object of the Insti-
tute. Here, with us, we are particularly in
want of this knowledge, for the whole busi-
ness of the American watchmaker is to mend,
not make. America seems to be the heaven
of poor watch workers. An English or Swiss
movement, so defective in its construction as
to prevent its sale at home, is good enough
for export, and will sell in " The States." No
sooner do such movements pass the Custom
House than they are sent broadcast over the
country by Express, CO. D., and the watch-
maker, wherever it goes, is required to make
it run, and for ever after to stand godfather
to the wretched production cast upon the
world and deserted by its depraved parent.
Now, the skill required to make that watch
38
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
go must be far in excess of the knowledge
displayed in its construction, and unless a
■workman knows why and where it is defec-
tive, in spite of its high finish, he may puzzle
his brains till doomsday and be no nearer
ascertaining the true cause of its misbehavior.
And this same ignorance of the true principles
upon which it should be constructed is the
real cause of nine-tenths of the watches being
further spoiled in the hands of this incom-
petent class of workmen. They have no idea
what is the matter, and the consequence is
that every screw and wheel, and pinion and
pivot, and cock and bridge, is filed, and bent,
and twisted, in the faint hope that some of
these^ various punchings may, by accident, hit
the real difficulty. Their mode of treatment
is the same as that of an ignorant physician,
who, in case the patient's disease is quite un-
known to him, administers remedies at
random, with the forlorn hope that some one
of them will cure.
This brings us face to face with the ques-
tion, How is this state of the craft to be
bettered? All good men deplore the situa-
tion, and some, no doubt, have theories as to
the best plan of remedy. Our own pet theory
is, the reformation of the community with re-
gard to the support they give to the most un-
worthy workman. But how to bring about this
reformation is the question. All must feel the
truth of the assertion that public opinion
cannot be driven, it must be led; humans,
like those quadrupeds whose ears are not
proverbially short, have a preponderance of
inertia — a tendency not to move, but when
once in motion in any given direction the
tendency is equally strong not to stop. These
little whimsical peculiarities of the public
mind make it necessary to resort to an ex-
pedient that boys adopt to change the direc-
tion of a rolling hoop, without throwing it
down — that of applying a gentle pressure, so
as gradually to change its direction. Of
course it takes time to do this ; but if five
hundred resolute, good men (and we think
there are more than that number in the trade),
set themselves seriously and earnestly about
it, good results may be expected in a reason-
ably short time. The general idea of the
method to adopt would be for each workman
to earnestly impress upon the owner of any
watch, that chanced to come in his hands,
the necessity of carefulness in workmen ; he
could easily be shown, in his own watch,
where it had been marred and disfigured,
and he could, in a five minutes talk, be made
to understand that all the real damage that
could possibly happen to the watch in the
the owner's hands, would not permanently
injure it in the least if properly repaired. On
no account must he get the impression that
you are talking against any particular work-
man, for then your whole harangue will be
set down as trade jealousv. In converting
him from the error of his ways, you will more
than probably make for yourself a permanent
customer, and at the same time will, in him,
send out a missionary who will sow more of
the good seed. There is no better way to
make a man careful to whom he intrusts his
watch work, than to convince him that it can
be so easily spoiled. Now, all this can be
brought about by simply telling the truth,
for we all know these things to be facts.
Were it necessary for us, as craftsmen, to
make out our case by lying, or even with-
holding the truth, we should be the very last
to make the proposal ; but it is truly serving
the community, as well as ourselves. As soon
as the public demand thoroughly competent
workmen, we doubt not but the means to
supply them will not be wanting.
As our Journal is designed for a free and
full interchange of individual opinions, for
the good of the whole, we should be exceed-
ingly glad to have any who have given the sub-
ject a thought communicate with us, either
in private or public. We hold no " patent " on
our opinions, and will give earnest attention
to any suggestions by any of our subscribers ;
for by such means we hope to arrive at the
best mode for the solution of a difficult prob-
lem.
o
figg"" In the article of Mr. Grossmann's on
the Mercurial Pendulum, in the July No., for
" Weight of Mercury Columns," in the table,
read " Height of Mercury Columns." Typo-
graphical errors are very annoying, but seem
to be unavoidable. Also, the article on Iso-
chronism should have been credited as com-
ing originally from Mr. Fordsham, of Lon-
don.
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
39
ISOCHRONISM.
It is a -well-known fact that when a watch
has been running a length of time after hav-
ing been put in order, the arcs of vibration
of the balance grow smaller in proportion to
the thickening of the oil, which not only pre-
vents the balance from describing its original
arc of vibration, but occasions a " drag" on
all the frictional parts of the watch, whereby
a part of the motive power of the main-spring
is exhausted, and the regulator prevented from
exercising its original influence. In addition
to this, the watch is also subjected to almost
continual outer motion consequent upon
usage. These facts, taken together, tend to
interfere with the free motion of the balance,
and an irregularity in the going of the watch
is the consequence ; which, unless those faults
can be corrected, renders it valueless where
correct time is required.
As it is not possible to remedy these in-
equalities in the arcs of vibration, we are
compelled to resort to other means by which
unequal (large or small) vibrations become
of equal duration, and this can only be ac-
complished by means of the hair-spring.
The method universally adopted of making
the vibrations isochronous embodies the prin-
ciple that a very short hair-spring, whose
whole length is of equal strength, impels large
vibrations to move faster than small ones ;
and a very large hair-spring, with the same
conditions, causes the large vibrations to move
slower than the small ones. If, then, it is
desired to make the vibrations isochronous, a
hair-spring must be selected between these
two extremes, in which large and small
vibrations become of equal duration. The
exact size of the spring cannot be determined
beforehand, but must actually be tested in
the watch, as it not only stands in proportion
to the weight and diameter of the balance,
but to the strength of the pivots, and the form
of the jewel holes.
Experience has shown that the cylindrical
spring is the best to establish a correct
isochronism, as the coils are all equally dis-
tant from the centre, whereby the movement
of the coils in the long and short vibrations
becomes equal. The diameter of the cylindri-
cal hair-sx->ring should be one-third that of
the balance, with about 8 or 9 coils. When
there is not sufficient height to admit of that
number of coils, they may be lessened ; but
the diameter must be increased in proportion,
as a certain length cannot be deviated from.
The Breguet hair-spring is also a very good
one with which to establish a correct isochron-
ism. In form it is flat, with the outer coil
bent upwards, and parallel with the remain-
der of the spring, and forming a part of its
circle. The outer coil should be so placed
that it be from 1 to 1| coils above the centre
of the spring from the inner to the outer coil.
The movement of the coils in this spring are
very even, which is a condition required to
establish a correct isochronism. When select-
ing a flat spring, one should be chosen with the
coils wound as closely as possible, which ren-
ders the movement of the coils more even
than one whose length is the same, but whose
coils are farther apart. In adjusting the ends
of the spring they should be so pinned that
one end stands exactly over the other ; or,
which is the same thing, that the ends form a
right angle to the centre, which position, ex-
perience has shown, tends to lighten the task
of regulating. Indeed, some authorities on
this subject have gone so far as to claim that
an exact isochronism can be obtained by this
means alone. This theory is, however, new,
having been recently put forth by Mr. E.
Sandoz, of Springfield, Mass., whose reputa-
tion as a " springer" is undoubted. Having
never made any experiments on his theory,
of course I can give no results.
From these considerations we may deduce
the fact, that a correct isochronism may be
attained by altering the length of the spring,
either longer or shorter, so that the large
and small vibrations may be made to go
faster or slower, as occasion may require. My
experience has shown that an exact isochron-
ism is not always desirable. For instance,
allowing the small vibrations to describe
somewhat faster than the large vibrations, so
that a watch, say with arcs of vibration of 350°,
regulated to mean time, and then falling off to
150°, should gain five or six seconds in twenty-
four hours in the small vibration. The rea-
son of this is, that after the watch has been
running a length of time the hair-spring
tends somewhat to " draw," whereby a very
40
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
little irregularity is perceptible ; then there is
the thickening of the oil on the balance and
train pivots to be considered, which causes a
loss of motion of the balance, and an irregu-
lar rate in the running of the watch.
Another reason why a perfect isochronoiis
spring should not be used, is, that if the fric-
tion of the pivots of the balance staff, when
in a horizontal or vertical position, remains
the same in a temperature of 14 to 18° R.,
the motion of the balance will be the same ;
but should the watch be placed in a tempera-
ture below zero, the friction of the pivots
would be increased, and the motion would
not be the same, and the watch would not
have a regular rate. This would be more
perceptible in a vertical position, as the arcs
of vibration would become smaller, thereby
causing the watch to lose time. If, then, a
spring shall be selected that will cause the
watch, in the small vibrations, to gain as
many seconds as it would lose by reason of
the thickening of the oil and the other rea-
sons mentioned, a degree of regularity would
be acquired that would be maintained in any
temperature.
I will now endeavor, in as few words as
possible, to show how the proper length of
hair-spring may be determined, so that the
above conditions may be fulfilled. The watch
should first be in good running order before
the isochronism of the spring is tested. This
being observed, and the watch being fully
wound up, set the hands to the correct time,
as indicated by a regulator that can be de-
pended upon, and let it run twelve hours.
At the end of this time let the difference of
time between the watch and the regulator be
carefully noted. Now let down the ratchet
so that a very little motive power is exerted,
or substitute a weaker main-spring, and then
carefully set the hands with the regulator,
let the watch run another twelve hours, and
then compare the difference between the first
and last running. Should the watch have
gained two or three seconds in the small
vibrations (last experiment), then the
hair-spring is one very well adapted to
the watch. But should it have gained
more than that, or, on the contrary, lost
two or three seconds, then the spring is
not well adapted to the watch, and its length
must be altered, according to the results ob-
tained by the experiment. It is often the
case that not till after many experiments have
been made, and repeated changes of the
spring, that the efforts of the artisan are re-
warded with success. Chas. Spieo.
DIALING.
NUMBER TWO.
Knowing that there are many persons in
the trade who do not fully understand some
of the terms which will be found often
repeated hereafter, and who probably will not
take the trouble to search out their precise
meaning, but may be incited to study them in
this connection, therefore we think it best to
devote more space to definitions than will be
thought necessary by the educated, who are
prone to assume that everybody knows these
things. Having mingled much with crafts-
men, and having found among them a great
want of scientific knowledge, not that it is
undervalued by them, but the opportunity to
acquire it has never been presented, therefore
we must take people as we find them, and do
our best to leave them in a better condition.
Right {or Straight) Line. — The nearest dis-
tance between two points.
Arc. — Any part of the circumference of a
circle or other curve.
Radius. — Line or distance from the centre
to the circumference of a circle, always equal
to the semi-diameter of the circle.
Tangent. — A right line which touches a
curve, but which, when produced or continu-
ed, does not cut it ; is always perpendicular
(or at right angles) to the radius.
Chord. — A right line joining the two
extremities of an arc — like the string of a bow.
Degree. — The 360th part of a circle ; it is
no definite quantity, or distance, for every
circle, whatever its diameter may be, is sup-
posed to be divided into 360 equal parts.
Angle — Is the number of degrees contained
between any two radii of a circle. The angle
between any two lines is the same, whether the
lines extend an inch, or a million of miles.
Right Angle. — Quadrature, or quarter of a
circle, and is 90° of the circle.
Complement of an arc or angle, is what the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
41
arc or angle lacks of being 90° ; thus, if an
angle or arc is 60°, its complement is 30°.
To construct or draw a right angle, as in
Fig. 1, or raise a perpen-
dicular to the line A B,
set your compass in the
line B, and with an open-
ing greater than half the
line, describe the two
arcs, G F and S J ; from
A, with the same opening,
describe the arcs D E,
and LK; lay your rule
on the intersections of the
arcs, and draw H C,
which will be perpendicu-
lar to A B, and the angle contained between
A C H, or H C B, is a right angle.
Perpendicular. — A line, or surface, at right
angles to another line or surface. To drop a
perpendicular from a given point, E (Fig. 2),
to the line A B : From E, as a
centre, with an opening of the
compass greater than the dis-
tance E D, draw the arc A B ;
then, with the same opening,
from the points A and B re-
spectively, as centres, describe
the arcs which intersect at C;
lay your rule from E to C, and
draw the line E D, which is
the perpendicular wished.
To erect a perpendicular at ihe end of the
line A B (Fig. 3), open your
compass to any convenient dis-
tance, as B C, and draw th(
arcs which intersect at D; from
C, through D, draw a line pro-
longed toward E, at pleasure ;
take the distance, C D, in youi
compass, and lay it off from D
to E, then a line drawn from
the point E to B, will be the
perpendicular required.
To draw lines parallel to each other (when
you have no parallel ruler) : From the points
A, B (Fig. 4), with
an opening of
compass equal to
the distance desired
for the parallel,
C, D, then draw a line tan-
make the arcs,
gent to both, and you have the line C D,
parallel to A B.
To find a lost centre, or to find a circle which
shall touch three given points, not in the
same straight line : Let A, B, C (~F\<y 5), be
the points ; set the compass in A, with an
opening greater than half the distance from
A to B, and describe the arc E G; then from
B, as a centre, construct the semicircle E
F H ; then, from C produce the arc F H.
A straight line through the intersections of
F H, and E G, will meet at T>, which is the
centre of the circle in which A, B, C, lie.
Through three points not in a straight line
(Fig. 6), to construct a Geometric square:
Though the point B draw the line F J ; set
one foot of the compass in A, and draw the
arc F G; from C, draw the arc G H; from F
and G, draw the arcs which intersect at K,
and from G H draw the arcs which intersect
at L; from K, through A, draw a line, with the
point of your compass, prolonged toward O ;
from L draw, in the same way, the line to
P, then with the distance from D to E, draw
the arcs at O P, and a line tangent to them.
Finish with ink the lines O P, P E, and O D,
and your square is complete.
After a few Astronomical definitions with
42
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
a view to fix in the mind the character and re-
lations of the circles, points, lines, etc., of the
sphere, called the "doctrine of the sphere," we
shall plunge at once into the construction of
dials.
Great Circle. — The section of a sphere by a
plane cutting it through its centre in any
direction. Small Circles are such as are
formed by a plane cutting the sphere in any
direction not through the centre, dividing it
into two unequal parts.
Axis of a Circle. — A straight line passing
through its centre at right angles to its plane.
Pole of a Great Circle — Is the point where
the axis cuts through the sphere, and is every-
where 90° from the great circle. The earth
is called the terrestrial sphere ; the starry
concave of the heavens, the celestial sphere.
The great circles of the globe, extended every
way till they meet the heavens, become cir-
cles of the celestial sphere.
The Horizon. — A great circle which divides
the earth into the upper and lower hemi-
spheres, and separates the visible heavens
from the invisible; this is the rational horizon
• — the sensible horizon being the boundary of
vision of the observer; still so vast is the dis-
tance of the starry sphere that both these
planes appear to cut in the same line, so
that we see the hemisphere of stars which we
should see if the upper half of the earth were
removed, and we stood on the rational hori-
zon.
Poles of the Horizon. — The plumb line rep-
resents the axis of the horizon — directly
over head is Zenith, directly under our feet
Nadir.
Vertical Circles — Are those circles which
pass through the poles of the horizon, and are
perpendicular (or at right angles) to it.
Meridian — Is the vertical circle passing
through the north and south points.
Altitude. — The elevation above the horizon
measured in degrees on a vertical circle pas-
sing through that body.
Azimuth — Is the distance of a body from
the meridian (measured on the horizon) to a
vertical circle passing through it. The poles
of the earth are the extremities of its axis,
and when prolonged to the heavens, become
the poles of the heavens.
Equator. — The Great Circle cutting the
axis of the earth at right angles. The
intersection of the plane of the equator
with the earth's surface, is the terrestrial
equator, and with the concave of the heavens
the celestial equator, and is more often called
the equinoctial, because when the sun is on the
equator the nights and days are equal in
length.
The meridians, which are always at right
angles to the equator (or equinoctial) and
also to the horizon, are called hour circles,
because the arcs of the equator intercepted
between them are used as measures of time.
Latitude of a place is its distance from the
equator north or south; the Polar distance is
the angular distance from the nearest pole, and
is the complement of the latitude.
Longitude of a place is its distance from
some standard meridian, east or west,
measured on the equator. The meridian
usualy taken as the standard is the meridian
of the Observatory of Greenwich, near Lon-
don. If the place be directly on the equator
we have only to measure the arc of the equa-
tor intercepted between the place and the
point where the meridian of Greenwich cuts
the equator. If the place be north or south
of the equator its longitude is the arc of the
equator intercepted between the meridian of
the place and the meridian of Greenwich.
Ecliptic is the great circle in which the earth
performs its annual revolution around the
sun, its plane cutting the centre of the earth
and the centre of the sun. If the axis of the
earth were at right angles (or perpendicular)
to the eclij)tic, the equator would coincide
with it ; but it is found by observation that
the earth does not He with its axis at right
angles to this plane, but is turned about 23|°
out of a perpendicular direction, making an
angle with the plane itself of 66^° — the two
circles making an angle with each other
of 23° 27' 43". It is very important
to get a correct idea of these two
circles and planes, because to them are
referred a great number of astronomical
measurements and phenomena, and they are
the " ground plan" upon which the super-
structure of dialing is constructed.
Equinoctial Points are where these two
circles intersect. The time when the sun
crosses the equator (coming north) is called
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
43
the vernal equinox (about the 21st of March),
and where it crosses the equator going south,
the autumnal equinox (about Sept. 22).
Sohticial Points are where the sun is most
distant from the equator, north or south.
The summer solstice (north) occurs the 22d
of June; the winter solstice (south) the 22d
of December.
The ecliptic is divided into twelve equal
parts, of 30° each, caUed signs, which, begin-
ning at the vernal equinox, succeed each
other in the following order :
NORTHERN.
1. Aries, T
2. Taurus, y
3. Gemini, H
4. Cancer, ^
5. Leo, SI
6. Virgo, TO
SOUTHERN.
7. Libra, *±
8. Scorpio, Tl
9. Sagittarius, /
10. Capricornus, V5
11. Aquarius, %Z
12. Pisces, K
WATCH AND CLOCK OIL.
One of the most essential things in a watch
or clock, to insure its correct performance
and durability, is good oil. Probably every
watchmaker has at some time learned this
by his own sad experience, having suffered
much in loss of time and patient labor, by the
injurious effects of poor oil on his work.
Hence, the importance of this subject, viz.,
oils for horological uses, to which we will give
a brief consideration.
After the watch or clock is carefully cleaned
and adjusted, each of the pivots and springs
receives its particle of oil, and the delicate
machine is expected to keep its continuous
motion, with almost the accuracy of the sun,
without further attention for a year or more,
or until it comes into the hands of the watch-
maker again for renewed cleaning or repairs ;
during all the intervening time the watch
receives no more oil. It becomes then a very
important question : What are the essential
requisites of the oil that shall accomplish this
result ?
The following are undoubtedly the most
important, viz.:
1st. It must not corrode on metals.
. 2d. It must not become gummy.
3d. It must not quickly evaporate.
4th. It must not congeal when exposed to
severe cold.
Equally important are the questions : How
and where can an oil be obtained that will
bear these four tests ?
Is it to be found in the animal or vegetable
kingdoms? Chemistry will do much in solv-
ing the problem, but we shall find the most
reliable test is experience. It is of prime im-
portance to consider what the experience of
practical men has been in the use of oils on
watches and clocks. A writer in the English
Horological Journal, vol. vii., page 74, says :
" After a careful and protracted trial of Olive,
Neat's-foot, Nut and Fish oils, manipulated in
many ways, I give as the rosult of all my
experiments, fish oil was found, all things
considered, the best."
In the same journal, A. Long writes : "In
1814 and 1815, I was in the Arctic regions,
and I remarked that train or sperm oil stood
more cold than any other, and that a portion
of it never congealed ; this was the oleine,
which we preserved and applied to our
chronometers, and thus kept them perform-
ing through the winter." He then goes on
to describe the process by which the oleine
was extracted from the blubber of the whale.
Others have written to prove that oil, ex-
tracted from a certain kind of olive, and at a
certain time, called Virgin oil, is best. The
writer before mentioned says : " I first turned
my attention to olive oil, but after a year or
two experimenting with it I gave it up."
All vegetable oils used on watches or
clocks, will be found open to these serious
objections : They will corrode on metals, and
they will become green and gummy ho the
pivot holes after a time. Others have tried
mineral oils with no better success. Not to
mention any other serious objections, they
will be found to evaporate quickly, leaving
the holes dry.
Experiments have also been made with oils
of ruminating animals, but they are found
to contain stearine in large proportion, and
are altogether too coarse and hard for horo-
logical purposes. Various kinds of nut oils
have been tried with no better success ; the
principal objection being they corrode
quickly.
After all the trials and tests, by practical
44
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
men, of the various kinds of oils to find the
kind that is best adapted to the delicate
machinery of watches and clocks, all kinds
but fish are found open to some objection.
The oil obtained from the head and jaw of a
species of the porpoise called black fish by
the fishermen, has been used in this country
for the last forty years or more, combining
all the qualities mentioned above, viz. : Does
not corrode, does not become gummy, is not
quickly evaporated, and does not congeal in
severe cold. The experience of practical men
during all that time, and in various climates,
goes to prove that the statement made above
is correct.
The head and jaw of the porpoise contain a
limited quantity of the article which Mr.
Long calls oleine, by which he probably means
pure oil, free from all other properties.
There is great difficulty in procuring the
genuine porpoise oil, having to depend
entirely upon the fishermen, who, on the sea,
or along the shore, catch the fish and extract
the oil ; a small part of which only can be
safely used for horological purposes. The
blubber should be boiled out in fresh water,
which can be easily done when the fish are
taken on the coast, but not so readily at sea,
where fresh water is scarce ; therefore it
becomes important that the oil should be
chemically tested, for if salt is detected it
becomes positively injurious when applied to
the watch. It must also be sweet ; if it has
become changed, acids are generated which
make it injurious. After being sure that the
oil is good and of the right kind, it is only by
a tedious course of preparation that the
crude oil can be put into a condition to stand
the fom* tests spoken of.
A very effectual test of good oil may be
made by countersinking a small cup on any
old watch plate deep enough to hold a drop;
fill it with the oil and set it aside, covered
with a glass so that no dust may get to it ; if
it remains clear and liinpid ten or twelve
months, three of the essential points are set-
tled. The other point is easily proved by
subjecting it to a very low temperature.
Manufacturers on the continent and in Eng-
land, very generally use olive oil on their
watches, and on arrival here the oil is usually
found to be thick and gummy, rendering it
necessary to clean the watch and put on fresh
oil before it is safe to warrant it to perform
correctly.
They are beginning to appreciate the great
advantage which fish oil has over the vegeta-
ble and other kinds for horological purposes,
and already there is a large market for Amer-
ican oils among manufacturers, and the de-
mand is constantly increasing.
A change for the better is apparent when
the porpoise oil is used on imported move-
ments ; they move more freely and are in
much better order for the pocket on their ar-
rival here, and can be relied upon more surely
from the start. In Paris clocks especially,
the pivots are clean and free, instead of the
green and gummy state in which they have
usually been found. No oil will keep good in
close proximity with cedar wood; if this wood
is used in any part of a clock case, the oil will
become gummy in a short time. A like result
will be produced on watches kept in drawers
made of cedar.
In conclusion, it appears that the oil of the
porpoise or black fish has proved by long ex-
perience as well as by chemical tests, to be a
good oil for clocks and watches. Further
investigation may bring to light something
better, but until that time arrives, the trade
will undoubtedly use it in the future as it has
in the past.
Our patrons, after reading this article, may
ask us, who are the manufacturers who put
up this oil which has been found in practical
workings to be the best ? In answer, we know
of none better than the oil put up by I. M.
Batchelder, of which Palmer, Batchelders &
Co., 162 Washington street, Boston, are sole
agents. It is well known throughout this
country and is extensively used in London,
Paris, and among the manufacturers of Eng-
land, France, and Switzerland.
SOFT SOLDElt.
Stepping into the shop of a jeweller friend
a few days since, I found him putting the stem
on to a gilt watch case with soft solder. I
remonstrated with him, but he said it was
his orders. '"You see," said he, "if I hard
solder it, it will discolor, and will have to be
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
45
re-gilt." He kept on, and after three attempts
he made it stick until I got away, and if he
sent it home done up in cotton, I have no
doubt it arrived safe.
Now we have had two commandments
given us. The first is, " Never soft solder a
job that can by any possibility be hard sol-
dered;" and the second is like unto it,
'•'Never use soft solder on any article of gold
or silver that may by chance require to be
hard soldered afterward." On these two
commandments hang all the tinkers' law and
profits.
But it is necessary at times to use soft sol-
der, and I am going to tell you how I do it,
having no doubt at the same time that all of
my readers can do it better than I can.
Since the good old resinous days have gone
by, we have come to the use of soldering
fluid, or a fluid that when dried off by heat
will leave a coating on the article to which
the solder will readily adhere, and also a flux
to assist it in the flow.
To make this fluid, I put, say one pound of
muriatic acid in a glass jar, set it out in the
open air, and add to it some pieces of clean
zinc. "When the violent ebullitions have ceased
I add more zinc than the acid can possibly
take up. I let this stand for several hours,
then add about half a gill of water, when it
will commence eating again. I let this stand
again, then add a little water, and continue
this so long as I can discern any signs of
action on the zinc. I stir it well with a stick
each time I add water, and if, after standing,
I tap the jar and no bubbles rise, I consider
it has ceased action. Then I add one ounce
of sal ammonia, let it stand over night, pour
off the clear fluid, and throw away the sedi-
ment. It should be kept corked, as the
strength of the acid is quite exhausted, and
when steel is soldered with it, if washed off
with alcohol, there is very little fear of its
rusting afterward.
The best solder I have ever used, I have
bought from the britannia workers. It keeps
for a long time without tarnishing, and is far
superior in every respect to the rolled solder
found at the material dealers. Clean the parts
well, and do not apply heat enough to start
the temper of brass, silver, gold or steel.
D. W. B.
WATCH CLEANING.
Old Shirts are indispensable to the watch-
maker — in fact they are invaluable. Let
no one, however urgent his pecuniary neces-
sity, ever yield to the temptation of selling one
to the ragman in order to " raise the wind,"
neither let your washwoman so work upon
your sympathetic generosity as to beguile you
out of one, on the specious plea that "she
can cut it down for the baby." They are good
for something — -don't you, for a moment, listen
to the hackneyed expression that they are of
no further use to you ; they are useful, nay
more, they are precious.
Of course we would not have you imagine
that new shirts were not also proper, and ne-
cessary, and convenient. But new ones you
can dispense with. By the aid of " modern
improvements '' you can " make shift " to do
without them ; the thousand and one recent
appliances of paper have almost made the
shirt obsolete. With a paper dickey, and a
paper collar, and a paper tie, and paper cuffs,
its absence is rarely noticed ; in fact, the
difference between the uses of the new and
the old is, that the former is used to conceal
dirt, and the latter to remove it.
Several of our correspondents have made
mention of their various modes for cleaning
watches by brushings, and washings, etc., all
very good in their way; but our own plan we
like best of all yet tried. Every one knows
(or ought to know) the tender nature of
cheap gilding, and its liability to removal by
the slighest abrasion, and with brushing the
corners off, all the cocks and bridges get the
most of it. All the under parts, where dirt
" most does congregate," we brush with al-
cohol, and a little chalk if necessary ; all the
upper gilded parts we wash with a camel hair
pencil dipped in alcohol, and wipe dry with
well worn cotton or linen cloth, which cleans
them perfectly, produces not the least scratch,
leaves the work as bright as when originally
finished, and we are persuaded that when
once tried it will not be abandoned. Of course,
when the brash is used the cloth must not be,
for the fibre brushes up and lint is apt to get
on the parts ; but when used simply as a
wiper all the fibres are easily removed by a
puff of the breath.
46
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
New fabric must never be so used, as it is
filled with starch, which renders it harsh.
Cat up the cloth in squares of about four
inches, packed away carefully in a box or
drawer from dust. If judiciously used there
is nothing that we have ever tried that so well
answers the purpose.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
G. F. E., Memphis, Tenn — There are, as you
suggest, other and larger Catalogues of Stars,
such as what is known as " The Greenwich
Twelve Year Catalogue," a list of 2,156 stars ;
" The Catalogue of the British Association for
the Advancement of Science," containing the
positions of 8,377 fixed stars, and others. As
they are not published annually, but only at
long intervals, their use requires the employ-
ment of tedious and difficult formulae to cor-
rect the positions of the stars for any required
date ; hence the use of these Catalogues is
confined principally to the great Observa-
tories.
We doubt whether either of those men-
tioned can be obtained short of importation
from London, but we presume any of the
chronometer and nautical instrument dealers
would import them to order, that business
being somewhat in their line. Address John
Bliss & Co., No. 66 South street, N. Y.
As to the adjustment of a transit, aided by
the observation of stars passing the meridian
at different degrees of declination, no better
method can be devised. For this purpose
preference is given to those which pass the
meridian at or near the zenith, and those of
low declination. When the axis of the instru-
ment is accurately levelled, its telescope
describes a vertical circle, of course, passing
through the zenith, whatever may be the
position of the transit. Therefore, if the
telescope be placed approximately in the
meridian, and a star be selected that passes
through the zenith, its observed meridian
passage will not be affected by the azimuthal
error of the instrument, and consequently
the true time may be obtained. If, now, a
star of low declination be observed to cross
the lines of the transit, the difference between
the calculated and the observed time of tran-
sit shows the amount of azimuthal error due
to that declination, and the frame of the tran-
sit must be turned in that direction, east or
west, which will lessen this error. When, by
repeated trials, the high and low stars show
the same amount of error in the time-piece
used, allowance being made for its rate, if
any, the transit is proved to be in adjust-
ment.
The method by the Pole Star, used by
some, while fully as accurate as any, has the
advantage of being easily adapted to the
wants of the unskilled. The slow motion of
the Pole Star is what makes it of value in this
connection, as the centre, or meridian line,
may be readiry adjusted on the star, when on
the meridian, small errors in the time-piece
used, or slight inaccuracies in the manipula-
tion, affecting the result to a trifling extent
only ; while a few repetitions of observa-
tions of the sun, followed by corrections of
the correspondence of the meridian line and
the star at its culmination, serve to entirely
eliminate any error in azimuth.
H. H., Murphysboro, III. — I am pleased to
answer the query, inasmuch as it affords me
an opportunity of pointing out an advantage
in the method of developing the escapement,
as illustrated and described by Fig. 1, in my
article on Chronometer Escaj)ement, in July
number. If the gentleman will please take
up and examine the description of the draw-
ing again, he will see that it is from a given
centre distance, which he calls depth, that the
relative diameters of wheel and roller are de-
veloped with a view of obtaining a certain
amount of leverage impulse ; and hence it is
possible, according to this method, to deter-
mine and fix the centre distance in the watch
before either wheel or roller is made. If, then,
an escapement were constructed on this prin-
ciple, an error of depthing could not oecr",
except the wheel and roller were made of
other diameters than obtained in the devel-
opment, which could only be attributed to
gross neglect on the part of the workman.
Different is it according to another mode of
constructing the escapement, where from a
given diameter of wheel the relative size of
roller is determined, and the centre distance
afterwards pitched with the finished roller and
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
47
•wheel. In this case an error of depth could
easier take place, though it will be found as a
rare occurrence. Should such be the case, it
■will be easily remedied by making the diame-
ter of the roller either smaller or larger, as
the case may require; and to do this, it would
be only necessary to move the impulse jewel
a little further out or in. This will remedy
the fault, though the amount of leverage will
be changed a little ; but as the diameter of a
finished wheel cannot be made other than it
is except by a new one, this could not be
avoided. Th. Gribi.
A.W., Stamford, Ct. — There must be some
fault in the method of using the pickle which
we cannot discover. Did you heat the jew-
elry nearly or quite red hot and plunge it in
the pickle ? or was it not possible the articles
you experimented on were silver plated ? if so,
there is no restoring it except by replating.
The plan will certainly and successfully work
on solid silver goods, for we have used it for
years, and we can scarcely believe that a
pickle of 2 parts sulphuric acid and 1 part
nitric diluted with water (as directed) till it is
only very sour to the taste, will in the least
injure silver, even if it were to remain in it 48
hours.
Key pipes or tubes are drilled to a little
more than the proper depth; then a perfectly
square punch, the face of wThich is exactly at
right angles to the axis of the punch, is driven
to the bottom, forcing before it the amount of
metal shaved off in squaring up the round
hole ; it is then finished off outside — hard-
ened and tempered, if it is intended to be a
good, key pipe.
Mr. English, of Springfield, Mass., makes
an excellent patent steel key, both for the
pocket and the bench. Most of the keys and
key pipes in use are made abroad.
C. W. H., North Adams, Mass. — Do you
mean the hole through a new pinion, as they
come from the material dealer? If so, the
best way for you to fit the hole to the arbor
of the old square, is to make a " rose drill " of
the exact size of the smallest diameter of the
square arbor where it comes through the
pinion under the dial.
The " rose drill " is made from a piece of
steel wire fitted to your drill stock, or what is
better, in the chuck of an American lathe.
Tarn down the end of the wire for about the
16th of an inch to the exact size you wish the
hole through the pinion ; above that turn
down a shank, a little smaller, only to give
perfect freedom; but not enough to weaken
the drill; then round off the end nicely to a
half-round or less, and file the rounded end
into a series of radial grooves, all brought to
cutting edges; then harden and temper, and
you will have a drill which will surely follow
the hole you wish to open. Be careful to
have the straight part of the drill no larger
behind than at the end, otherwise it will bind.
This drill will not deviate from the centre of
the hole it follows, for the smooth sides form
a perfect guide.
To give the hole the requisite taper to fit
the arbor, a very little opening with a |- brooch
(holding the pinion in the fingers) will be
sufficient.
E. C. B., Newport, R. Z— The "Turns" you
inquire about are nothing more than the
ordinary steel bench lathe, which every watch
maker has, and they are often spoken of as
dead centre lathes, to distinguish them from
those which run with a band and have a live
centre.
R. H. L., Spring Lake, Mich. — "With a dia-
mond point, or the sharp corner of a piece of
steel, as hard as fire and water will make it,
mark -the spot on the glass where the hole is
desired. It must be sufficiently deep to hold
from slipping the end of a copper wire, which
must be charged with emery (about No. 60)
and water. The size of emery will depend
somewhat on the size of hole you wish ; for
a small hole coarse emery will not stay with
your drill ; you can run the drill by a drill-
stock and bow, or by a lathe. Glass differs
very much in hardness, depending upon its
composition ; some being very difficult to
drill nicely, except with No. 1 diamond dust.
The hole, when through, can be enlarged at
pleasure, by using a copper wire, sharpened
at such an obtuse angle as not to bind in the
hole, and charged with emery the same as for
drilling. To prevent chipping, work from
each side of the glass alternately. The most
expeditious way is with a diamond drill,
which is not always at hand.
48
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
J. M. L., South Paris, Me. — The method of
measuring clock pendulums, so as to get the
right length when they are lost or broken, is:
First find the number of revolutions or parts
of a revolution the scape wheel makes in a
minute ; multiply the number of revolutions
or parts of a revolution by twice the number
of teeth that there is in the scape wheel,
which will give the number of vibrations the
desired pendulum will have to make in a
minute ; then divide the number, 141,120.0
by the square of the number of vibrations,
and the product will be the length of the pen-
dulum in inches.
J. B. M., Cincinnati, 0. — Mr. Herrmann, our
London correspondent, is a German by birth,
about thirty years of age, and has been a resi-
dent of London some eight or ten years. He
is both a practical workman and a scientific
horologist. For three years past he has been
the instructor of the Drawing Class in the
British Horological Institute, a position for
which he is well qualified, possessing a degree
of patience that is so necessary in a teacher.
In the October number we expect to present
to our readers a scientific article from him, on
the construction of an epicycloidal shaped
tooth of an}7 size, by the method of co-ordi-
nates.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
G-_ LB , MILLER,
2 29 Broadway, X. Y.,
At $-2.-50 per Year, payable iu advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
received.
TERMS OF ADVERTISING.
Inside pages 20 cents per line.
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Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6115, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For August, 1870.
©
©
Sidereal
Time
Equation
of
Equation
Sidereal
©
Day
of
vlon.
of
the Semi-
diameter
Time to be
Added to
^uut. acted
Time to be
Subtracted
Dim
for
One
Time
or
Right
O
=!
c
Passing
the
Meridian.
from
Apparent
Time.
Added to
Mean Time.
Hour.
Ascension
of
Mean Sun.
s.
M s.
M. s. ! S.
H. M. s.
M..
1
66.64
6 4.33
6 4.35 ■ 0.143
8 39 34.09
Tu.
2
66 56
6 0.58
6 0.60 ' 0.169
8 43 30.65
W
3
66.47
5 56 21
5 56.23 0.195
8 47 27.20
Th.
4
66 39
5 51.21
5 51.23 | 0.222
8 51 23.76
Fri
5
66.30
5 45 59
5 45 62 , 0.248
8 55 20.31
Sat-
6
66.22
5 39.36
5 39.39 0.273
8 59 16.87
Sii.
7
66 13
5 32.53
5 32.56 0.298
9 3 13.42
M..
8
66 05
5 25.09
5 25 12
0.323
9 7 9.98
Tu.
9
65 96
5 17.06
5 17.09
0.348
9 11 6.53
W.
10
65.88
5 8.43
5 8.46
0.372
9 15 3.09
Th.
11
65.79
4 59.23
4 59.27
0.396
9 18 59.64
Fri.
12
65.71
4 49 47
4 49.50
0.419
9 22 56.20
Sat.
13
65 63
4 39.16
4 39.19
0.442
9 26 52.75
Sii.
14
65.55
4 28.30
4 28.32
0.464
9 30 49.31
M..
15
65.47
4 16 91
4 16.94
0.486
9 34 45.86
Tu.
16
65.40
4 5.01
4 5.04
0.507
9 38 42.42
W
17
65.32
3 52.60
3 52.64
0.528
9 42 38.97
Th
18
65 25
3 39.70
3 39.73
0.548
9 46 35.53
Fri
19
65 . 17
3 26.32
3 26 35
0.568
9 50 32.08
Sat
20
65.10
3 12.48
3 12.51
0.587
9 54 28.63
Sii.
21
65 03
2 58.18
2 58 21
0 606
9 58 25.19
M..
22
64.97
2 43 43
2 43 47
0.624
10 2 21.74
Tn.
23
64.90
2 28 25
2 28.28
0.642
10 6 18.30
W.
24
64 84
2 12.65
2 12.68
0.660
10 10 14.85
Th
25
64 78
1 56.63
1 56 66
0.677
10 14 11.40
Fri
26
64 72
1 40.21
1 40.23
0.694
10 18 7.96
Sat.
27
64.66
1 23.40
1 23.42
0.710
10 22 4.51
Su
28
64.61
1 6 21
1 6 24
0.726
10 26 1.06
M.
29
64.55
0 48 66
0 48 67
0.741
10 29 57.62
Tu.
30
64 50
0 30.75
0 30 75
0.755
10 33 54.17
W.
31
64 45
0 12.49
0 12.49
0.769
10 37 50.72
Mean time or the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.18 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same a3
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. H. M.
) First Quarter 3 20 51 . 5
© Full Moon 10 2113.5
( Last Quarter 18 19 50.4
© New Moon 26 9 25.6
D. II.
i Perigee 3 2.1
( Apogee 17 12.6
( Perigee 29 10.3
O / //
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 . 1
h. M. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson, Ohio _ 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58 . 062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT APPARENT MERID.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAGE.
D. H. M. S. o < , H. M.
Venus 1 6 29 20.43.... +22 26 38.2 2150.9
Jupiter.... 1 5 10 32.98.... 22 23 23.9 20 28.4
Saturn. .. 1 17 27 17.33. ... -22 4 2.1 8 46.2
AMERICAN
Journa
Vol. II.
NEW TORE, SEPTEMBER, 18 70
No.
CONTENTS.
How c\:s the Condition of the Coming Workman
be Improved ? 49
Heat, 51
Dialing, 55
Adjustment to Temperature and Position, . . 58
•Jewelling, 59
John Bliss & Co.'s Improved Transit Instrument, 61
Pinion Measurement, 62
Ortho-Chronography, 63
New Staking Tool, 64
Jean Paul Garnifr, 64
Industrial Exposition ln Altona, 67
Trifles, 68
Answers to Correspondents, 68
Equation of Time Table, 72
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Boom 19.
HOW CAN THE CONDITION OF THE COMING
WORKMAN BE IMPROVED?
Since we have been the vehicle of inter-
communication between our fellow-craftsmen
we have been in constant receipt of letters
and communications setting forth innumera-
ble hopes, and fears, and grievances connected
with the trade. By these interchanges intel-
ligent, energetic, well-read, well-educated
men have come to light, and have bid us be
of good cheer, and have upheld our hands on
either side, like the friends of the prophet of
old. And then again there bave been
developed another class — restless, progressive
enthusiasts, such as infest all communities,
and all occupations ; men whose zeal, were
it modified by discreet knowledge, would be
most able helpers in any cause. We have
also encountered the usual number of misan-
thropic grumblers, who are dissatisfied with
others, and equally so with themselves.
Taking the views of the whole together as a
unit, we have found a most decided want of
unanimity among the trade ; scarcely any
considerable numbers entertaining the same
view of the condition of things ; and the ideas
regarding the betterment of our condition
are equally various. Many are anxious to
establish a Trade Union, for the mutual pro-
tection of the interests common to all — for
the establishment of prices — for the defence
of the skilful mechanic against the predatory
incursions of the ignorant " hangers-on."
Others desire something like a Board of
Equalization, with power to decide upon the
merits of various grades of workmen, and to
award diplomas of merit, which shall be a
guarantee to the incredulous community of
the character of the bearer. In fact there is
no end to the devices which each orse wants
adopted and enforced against his neighbor.
Not as authoritative, nor with the idea of
propounding any plan better than any one
else, but simply to develop thought that may
ultimately assume form and proportion, we
will state a few objections to some of the plans
mentioned. Trades Union is a subject which
is claiming the attention of the best minds of
the country, and the discussions, pro and con,
are familiar to all ; and it would be egotisti-
cal presumption for us to claim new light on
the subject. The organization of a society or
class of workmen who consider themselves
the best, or that may be considered so by
others, arrogating to themselves, or even
receiving authority (delegated) from others,
to decide upon the merits of a workman, and
to enforce that decision by any pains and
penalties, we consider futile, and confess our
lack of ability to see what good can come of
it. "We think we can see in it evil, and only
evil continually. The favored few — the aris-
tocrats of the trade— will be the minority
and must necessarily encounter the uncom-
pro nising hostility of the majority — the out-
casts from the "society "- — -and we well know
how powerless minorities are in a free country.
Graded classes, we think, would meet with
no better success. No workman would like
to hang up his diploma as a second or third
class workman ; he would rather cast his lot
with " outsiders," and trust to his own tact
to make his way to & first-class notoriety with
50
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the community, and snap his fingers at the
"society's" diploma. To decide upon the
merits of a workman would require the knowl-
edge of a god ; to establish any system of
test rules would be next to impossible. A
good finisher might be a very poor workman,
and a first-class workman be a very poor
finisher. The possibility of being first-class
in some specialty makes it positively impos-
sible to say who is first-class.
If any such ideas should ever become crys-
tallized into form, our conception is, that
Principles should be the measure of a man's
knowledge — not moral principles, but the
known and well-established laws of nature in
every department of science that bears rela-
tion to a man's chosen profession. There can
scarcely be a possibility that a person so in-
formed, so learned, we may say, can ever
make any great mistake in the practice of his
art or calling — which is but the embodiment
of those fixed laws. As a familiar illustration
of our idea, suppose a watchmaker who knows
the principles of correct depthing, was called
upon to correct some fault in a watch; would
he ever alter the proper relation of wheel
and pinion to remedy a fault which he abso-
lutely knew could not exist there ? He would
of course look elsewhere for the error. Or
would a watchmaker who knew the laws per-
taining to springs, under all ordinary or
extraordinary conditions, be guilty of rivet-
ing together the broken ends of a main-
spring in a fine watch ? He more likely would
endeavor to explain to the owner the utter
impossibility of such a method of repair ever
proving satisfactory, and perhaps show him
the reason why ; then, if the owner, through
cupidity or stupidity, insisted on its being so
done — that it would do for the present, etc.
— that watchmaker would, if possessed of
any professional pride, advise him to take it
to some craftsman who had no reputation to
lose by such work. If the owner was a sen-
sible man he would say, do it as it should be
done ; if he proved to be otherwise, the
sooner the two part company the better.
We conceive it to be far more important
to be thoroughly educated in primary prin-
ciples than in handicraft. The former are
comparatively few, easily and quickly learned,
and are immutable ; while art-skill in manipu-
lation is endless ; the duration of a whole life
being insufficient to acquire the ten thousand
ways of doing a thing when only one principle
is involved. Primary laws being the same
for all, their application is infinite, and affords
free scope for the endless diversity of taste,
and full development of individuality. And
however multiplied the forms which adapt
themselves to the laws, there is no danger of
failure in the ultimate performance of such
constructions, because all the endless modi-
fications of form are continually subservient
to, and under the control of, and in conform-
ity with, immutable laws. We are pleased
with remarks we find in a series of articles
on Applied Mechanics, published in the Brit-
ish Horological Journal: "It seems to me
that in our mechanical teaching we make too
much of mechanism, which may be varied
indefinitely, and too little of natural prin-
ciples. The consequence is that by far too
much we copy each other's arrangements of
mechanism ; whereas, if we were taught the
natural and mathematical principles, and
showed that they could be applied in many
different ways, setting each one to find his
own mechanism, and letting it be considered
wrong for a man to copy other men's me-
chanical forms and arrangements, within a
reasonable period, by so doing, a great change
would soon be experienced, if our young men
were sent out to explore in the boundless
field of mechanism, which lies open to all,
instead of repeating the forms and arrange-
ments which have been adopted by others."
* * * * " The prominent consideration
of the natural principles as thus associated
with and determining working mechanism,
would impart a dignity to mechanical art."
* * * « There is no sound practice with-
out true principles, come from where they
may ; and practical men are immensely in-
debted to those philosophers and men of
science who frequently and without remunera-
tion take the trouble to investigate first
principles, and give them to the world freely
and fully, whose labors have been and are
now of incalculable value in reducing facts to
order, and giving us simple yet comprehen-
sive formulas for the guidance of construction,
and who investigate and lay open the mys-
terious laws of heat, and other natural
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
agencies, and make plain to the more occu-
pied and plodding busy -workers, the wonder-
ful phenomena of the innumerable laws of
nature."
Technological education we think has some-
what the same relation to art that the (dements
of penmanship have to the beautiful art
itself. A few up and down strokes, a few
concave and convex hues, once fixed in the
memory, and there is no end to the elabora-
tion of them into elegant, graceful, charming
forms. We, of course, do not expect to
change the present condition of things, nor
very materially change the views of the work-
ing men who now fill their various positions,
more or less to the satisfaction of themselves
and the community where they operate. But
we do hope to initiate a reform in the future
education of the young who are to fill our
places, and upon whose education will depend,
not only the practice, but the science of Horol-
ogy. We also fancy that we discern, in the
dim future, an endless multiplicity of manu-
facturing industries, directly connected with
our art, springing up in all parts of our vast
domain — the products of which must eventu-
ally supply the ceaseless demands of our
growing country ; and we should feel a na-
tional pride in knowing that all the watch
manufactories to come were compelled, by
the educated opinion of the trade, to con-
struct their products, however diversified in
form, upon truly philosophical and mathe-
matical principles, and we feel that this can
be done. Our factories have commenced the
good work, and have made creditable prog-
ress in the right direction. "We all know
that our machine-made watches, although far
inferior to many foreign in final finish, will
compare more than favorably in performance
with them. Take the extreme grades of the
American Watch Company, for illustration of
our idea. The " Home," the lowest and
cheapest variety, as compared with the " Am-
erican Watch Co.," the highest grade, is
of the rudest construction ; no pains taken
in any part of its manufacture, and yet the
disparity of performance in the two classes is
by no means proportionate to the difference
in price. This occurs from the fact that the
caliper of each is the same, all parts being
mado to gauge; ihesama principles are adhered
to in the construction of each, and conse-
quently the perfection of performance is only
the result of perfection of finish. Therefore
we indulge the hope that the principles upon
which the Coming Factories will operate
shall be correct. We ought surely to profit
by past experience, having suffered enough
from the shower of " hap-hazard " productions
of the Old World that have rained upon
us, to take warning, and not copy blindly
their errors. We know that " to err is hu-
man," but to perpetuate a mistake, plainly
seen to be such, is " infernal stupidity ; " and
in view of the coming factories, the coming
workmen, and the coming population, let us
cast about us for the best, most expeditious,
and most effective mode of education.
HEAT.
NUMBER TWO.
SOURCES OF HEAT — THE SUN'S RAYS COMBUSTION
CHEMICAL MIXTURE — THE ELECTRIC AND GAL-
VANIC DISCHARGE, ETC.
Having in our last number glanced at the
nature of heat, Ave will now proceed to look
into the sources from whence it is derived ;
the most important being the rays of the sun,
combustion, percussion, friction,chemical mix-
ture, and the electric and galvanic discharge.
The great source of heat to our world, and
probably the rest of the solar system, is the
radiant caloric that is projected from the sun.
Heat from this source has been approximately
estimated by Pouillet as being between 2662°
and 3202° Fahr. When a sufficient number
of rays are concentrated on one spot, either
by concave mirrors or convex lenses, the most
powerful heat is excited. When the Romans
were besieging Syracuse, 213 B. C, Archi-
medes is said to have used a number of me-
tallic mirrors with such effect as to set fire to
their fleet. The experiment has been repeated
in modern times. Buffon arranged 168 small
plane mirrors in such a manner as to reflect
radiant light and heat to'the same focus, like
one large concave mirror. With this appara-
tus he was able to set wood on fire at the
distance of 209 feet, to melt lead at 100 feet,
and silver at 50 feet. The following effects
52
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
were produced by a large lens or burning
glass, two feet in diameter, and made at
Leipsic in 1691 : Pieces of lead and tin were
instantly melted ; a plate of iron was soon
rendered red hot, and afterwards fused or
melted ; and a burned brick was converted
into a yellow glass. A double convex lens, three
feet in diameter and weighing 212 lbs., made
by Mr. Parker, of England, melted the most
refractory substances. Cornelian was fused
in 75 seconds ; a crystal pebble in 6 seconds,
and a piece of white agate in 30 seconds.
This lens was presented by the King of Eng-
land to the Emperor of China. It would ap-
pear from an experiment of Rumford's, that
the great heat excited in these cases depends
entirely on the concentration of the rays, and
not from any change in their nature, because
when he directed a portion of the rays against
a substance adapted for absorbing them, the
total amount of heat communicated to it was
the same, whether the rays were received on
the surface in a diffused state or brought into
a small focus. What the sun is composed of,
that it has for thousands of years poured forth
undiminished supplies of heat, astronomers
cannot determine. It has long been supposed
to be in a state of violent combustion, but the
various observations of Dr. Herschel and
others render it probable that this notion is
erroneous. From them it appears that the
sun is an opaque globe, surrounded by an
atmosphere of great density and extent ; in
this atmosphere there are two regions of
clouds; the lowermost of the two are opaque,
and similar to the clouds that form in our
own atmosphere ; but the higher region of
clouds are luminous, and emit the immense
quantity of light to which the splendor of the
sun is owing. The sun is supposed by some
to emit three kinds of rays : the calorific,
colorific, and deoxidizing. The first occasions
heat, the second color, and the third separates
oxygen from various bodies. Captain John
Ericsson, the inventor of the caloric engine
and the monitor system of naval warfare, has
for some time past been engaged on a series
of experiments having in view the utilizing
the heat of the sun for mechanical purposes.
Probably we may be able to give the result of
a number of his experiments in a future num-
ber.
The most important sources of heat which
we have in our power to supply at pleasure,
is that which depends on combustion ; and
few phenomena are more wonderful and inter-
esting. When a stone or a brick is heated,
they undergo no change ; and when left to
themselves they soon cool again, and become
as at first ; but when combustible bodies are
heated to a certain degree in open air they
suddenly become hotter of themselves, con-
tinue for a time intensely hot, and send out a
copious stream of light and heat. When this
ceases, the combustible matter has undergone
a most complete change, being converted into
a substance possessed of very different prop-
erties, and no longer capable of combustion.
All bodies, so far as combustion is con-
cerned, may be divided into supporter?;, com-
bustibles, and incombustibles. By supporters
are meant certain bodies, not indeed capable
of burning, but combustion cannot go on
without their presence. Air, for example, is
a supporter. Combustibles and incombus-
tibles require no explanation. The following
are all the supporters at present known :
Oxygen, chlorine, air, nitrous oxide, nitrous
gas, nitric acid, and euchloric gas. The
combustibles are either the simple substances
which have already been described, or com-
binations of these with each other, or with
oxygen without combustion ; in which last
case they may be called combustible oxides.
During combustion the oxygen or chlorine of
the supporter always combines with the com-
bustible, and forms with it a new substance,
which may be called a product of combustion.
Now every product is either, 1st, water ; 2d,
an acid ; or 3d, a metallic oxide. Some prod-
ucts are capable of combining with an addi-
tional amount of oxygen; but this combination
is never attended with combustion, and the
product, in consequence, is converted into a
supporter. Such compounds may be called
partial supporters, as a part only of the oxygen
which they contain is capable of supporting
combustion. Since oxygen is capable of sup-
porting combustion only in the supporters
and partial supporters, it is clear that it is in
a different state in these bodies from what it
is in products. It is probable that in sup-
porters it contains, combined with it, a con-
siderable quantity of heat, which is wanting
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
53
in products. It is also probable that com-
bustible bodies contain light as a constituent,
for the quantity of light emitted during com-
bustion depends on the combustible; while the
heat seems, in some measure at least, to depend
on the oxygen. If these two suppositions
be admitted, the phenomena of combustion
admit of an easy explanation : the base of the
oxygen and of the combustible combine to-
gether and form the product ; while the heat
of the one and the light of the other in like
manner unite and fly off in the form of fire.
It is well known that heat is produced by
the percussion of hard bodies against each
other. Iron may be heated red hot by strik-
ing it with a hammer, and the sparks emitted
by flint and steel are well known. This evo-
lution of heat appears to be the consequence
of the permanent or temporary condensation
of the bodies struck. Iron, and most metals,
become specifically heavier when hammered,
and condensation alwaysevolves heat. When
air is condensed it gives out a considerable
quantity of heat — sufficient to set fire to tinder.
When muriatic acid gas is passed through
water it is condensed, and the water becomes
hot ; on the other hand, when air is rarefied
it suddenly becomes much colder. It is not
difficult to see why condensation evolves heat.
The particles being forced nearer each other,
the repulsive force of the heat is increased,
and a portion, in consequence, is driven off.
The specific caloric can scarcely be conceived
to diminish without the body giving out heat.
A part of the heat which follows percus-
sion is often owing to another cause. By
percussion, the heat of the body is raised so
high that combustion commences, and this
occasions a still farther increase of heat. It
is in this way that sparks are produced when
flint and steel are struck ; the sparks being
small pieces of steel which have taken fire
and melted during their passage through the
air.
Heat is not only evolved by percussion,
but also by friction ; and not only by friction
of hard bodies, but even of soft bodies, as
when the hand is rubbed against the sleeve
of the coat ; but no heat has ever been ob-
served from the friction of liquids. Tie heat
evolved by friction seems to be owing to the
same cause as that of percussion ; namely, a
condensation of the substances rubbed. This
condensation is, in some cases, permanent ;
but when the bodies rubbed are soft, it can
only be momentary. The heat evolved by
friction is sometimes very considerable.
Thus Count Rumford boiled water by the
heat evolved by rubbing a steel borer against
a cylinder of gun metal ;. and in our own day
it has been proposed to heat factories where
there is a superfluity of power, by running-
large metal disks against each other.
In a great number of cases, a change of
temperature takes place when bodies com-
bine chemically with each other. Sometimes
the compound becomes colder than before,
and sometimes hotter. When sulphate of soda
in crystal, pounded, is dissolved in water, a
considerable degree of cold is produced, and
the cold is still more intense if the salt be
dissolved in muriatic acid. If muriate of
lime, in powder, and dry snow be mixed to-
gether, so great a degree of cold is produced
that mercury may be frozen, if it be sur-
rounded by such a mixture. Potash and snow
produce an equal degree of cold. When
nitric acid or sulphuric acid is poured upon
snow, the snow dissolves, and an intense cold
is produced. On the other hand, when sul-
phuric acid and water are mixed, so great a
heat is evolved that the liquid is consider-
ably hotter than boiling water. Heat also is
produced when nitric acid and water, or
water and alcohoLare mixed together ; and heat
is also produced if sulphate of soda, in a state
of efflorescence, is dissolved in water. An
intense heat is produced by dissolving quick-
lime in sulphuric acid. In most of these
changes of temperature, water is either one
of the substances combined, or it forms an
essential constituent of one of them. The
heat or cold produced depends often on this
constituent. Thus, sulphate of soda, contain-
ing its water of crystallization, produces cold
when dissolved ; while the same salt, de-
prived of its water of crystallization, produces
heat. If the new compound be more fluid
than the two constituents of it, the tempera-
ture sinks ; if it be less fluid, the temperature
rises. Thus, when snow and common salt
are mixed, they gradually melt and assume
the form of a liquid, and the temperature
sinks to zero. Solid water cannot become
54
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
liquid without combining with a quantity of
heat, and the same rule applies to all solid
bodies that become liquid ; hence, the cold
evolved in these cases. The water of crystal-
lization in sulphate of soda is solid ; it be-
comes a liquid when salt is dissolved ; hence
the cold produced. When the same salt, free
from its water of crystallization, is thrown
into water, it combines with a portion of the
water, and renders it solid ; hence the heat
evolved. When the density of two liquids
united is greater than the mean, heat is
evolved, because the specific caloric of the
new compound is less than that of the con-
stituents. This was first observed by Dr.
Irvine, and it accounts for the heat evolved,
when water is mixed with sulphuric, nitric
acid, or alcohol. Thus it appears that the
changes of temperature produced by mixture
are either occasioned by the change of state
which the water undergoes, or by a diminu-
tion of specific caloric, in consequence of the
new combination.
The heat excited by the galvanic or electric
shock has been commonly referred to a me-
chanical cause, although upon this point a
considerable diversity of opinion has prevail-
ed. The effect, however, is well known to be
very powerful, perhaps even more so than
that produced b}T the convex lens ; but it is
still more confined as to the extent of its
operation. The agency of electricity in evolv-
ing heat in bodies through which it passes is
powerfully and wonderfully apparent in the
discharge of the Voltaic battery. When an
extensive series of plates, excited by an acid
solution, discharges through points of char-
coal, attached to stout wires connected with
the opposite extremities of the battery, the
heat evolved is most intense. With 2,000
series of 4-inch plates Sir Humphrey Davy
obtained an arched stream of light, of nearly
4 inches in length ; fragments of diamonds
on being introduced into it disappeared ; and
thick wire of platina, one of the most refrac-
tory of the metals, fused readily ; all the
metals in their lamina?, such as gold and
silver leaf, burned vividly. AVhen fine iron or
steel wire was made to join the opposite ends
of the battery, it immediately ignited ; and
stout platina wire was kept at a white heat.
The late Professor Daniel, by his new Voltaic
battery, exceeded even these effects. With
this battery the arc of electrical flame between
points of charcoal was so intense, and in such
volume, that the eyes of the spectators were
seriously affected and inflamed, even though
guarded by thick gray glasses, and the Pro-
fessor's face became scorched by the heat as
when exposed to a meridian sun. The rays,
when collected into a focus, burned a hole
readily through paper many feet distant ;
and a bar of platinum, \ of an inch square,
together with other highly infusible metals,
such as rhodium, iridium, and titanium, were
easily melted. We have ourselves melted
iridium through the agency of the electric
discharge, when every other means at our
disposal failed. Whether in this operation
the heat is, as it were, merely forced out of
the wire by its commotion with its particles
experienced from passage of the galvanic
influence ; or whether, as has been supposed
under certain circumstances, heat and elec-
tricity can be converted into each other, or
may be sej)ai ated by a kind of decomposition,
are intricate questions of theory, upon which,
at present, it neems beyond our power to-
decide, and which must depend very much
upon the opinion that we entertain respecting
the nature of heat. The simple facts, how-
ever, independent of hypothesis, seem to in-
dicate that heat and electricity are distinct
from each other whether they are to be re-
garded as species of subtile fluids, or only the
productions of matter.
o
The Difference. — Mr. Potance is a first-
rate watchmaker. He keeps a neat little
workshop just across the street from Gold-
quartz, the rich jeweller. Potance says that
sometimes (when his digestion is bad) t vexes
him to see the elegant carriages drive up to
Goldquartz's curb-stone, and the stylish occu-
pants go in and leave their valuable watches
with him for repair ; because, as soon as the
carriage is gone, the watch will be sent to him
to do — Goldquartz getting two-thirds of the
pay, and all the credit. But he says (wi-h a
sneer) there are ti:nes when those same ele-
gant equipages do call at his door — to sell
tickets for a church raffle, or to solicit him to
subscribe to a fund to give his pastor (salary
$5,000) a three months' recreation in Europe.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
55
DIALING.
NUMBER THREE.
At the present day dialing is a more curious
than useful art. Perfected astronomical in-
s.ruments, and perfected watches and clocks,
have very generally superseded it ; yet it is
no loss to be in possession of any knowledge,
and it may be useful to be acquainted with the
method of drawing hour lines upon any sur-
face or plane, for any place in the world, thus
showing, by the shadow of a stile fixed on the
plane, the approximate hour. The stile can
have but three positions, viz., perpendicular,
oblique, parallel. The dial planes upon which
hour Lines may be drawn are — Horizontal ,
North or South, Erect-direct, Erect-declining,
Pipelining-inclining, Reclining -declining, Con-
vex, Concave.
"We shall in this article give concise direc-
tions for constructing dials upon many, and,
perhaps, all of these planes, and shall begin
with the Equinoctial Dial as being the
ground and foundation of all other dials, and
shows how naturally from it lines may be
deduced for planes lying in other positions.
The plane of this dial is parallel to the
earth's equator, and is universal ; for lines
drawn thereon will show the apparent time of
day for any place in the world.
To construct an equinoctial dial, procure a
a metal plate about a foot (more or less) in
diameter, or a thin board of good hard wood
planed smooth on both sides, and secured
from warping in the best possible manner.
the hour figures ; divide the outer circle into
24 exactly equal parts, making a point or dot
at each division ; then draw lines from the
centre to each of the 24 points, and these will
be the true hour lines. For the stile, erect in
the centre a pin or wire perpendicular to the
dial plane.
You will remember that 15° is equal to one
hour in time ; therefore you could have con-
structed this dial from a scale of chords,
which you must construct thu«* :
From a point in the centre draw three con-
centric circles with your compass, to contain
Draw a quadrant B 0, 90, and divide the arc
into 90 equal parts, which number as 10, 20,
30, etc. ; set one foot of your compass in B, and
draw the arc 90, A. The line A B will be the
chord of 90 to the radius C B. Carry all the
degrees of the arc B to the straight line A B
in the same manner, and number them 10,
20, 30, etc., and you have a scale of chords.
You can in the same manner make a scale for
any size circle you may have occasion to use.
In drawing this dial from the scale of chords,
take the chord of 15° and lay it off to the
right and left of the meridian line, and it
would have given you the 1 o'clock and the
11 o'clock hour lines. 15° more from these
lines would have given you the 2 and 10
o'clock ; and so on for the whole dial. But
because the dial thus drawn will serve but
for one half the year, when the sun is north
of the equator (or equinox), from the 22d of
March to the 21st of September ; therefore,
to adapt it to the whole year, you must draw
a corresponding dial on the other side, and
the wire which forms the stile must extend
through the board or plate 6 or 8 inches, and
must be exactly at right angles to both sur-
faces ; it only remains to set the dial truly,
and it is completed. To do this properly you
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
will need some instrument to measure alti-
tude, and if you have none of the higher class
of instruments for that purpose, you can
make a Quadrant, which will answer your
purpose well enough for dialing. Procure a
piece of well-seasoned hard wood board of
any size, from 6 inches to a foot in diameter,
exactly square, and paste on one surface a
sheet of drawing paper; then from one corner
draw a quarter of a circle, as large as the
board will admit of, the limb (or are) divided
into 90 equal parts or degrees. To one of
the straight edges you may, if you choose, fix
sight vanes; then attach a thread at the point
from which you described the segment, sup-
porting a lead bob or plumb. Complete the
instrument as represented by Fig. 9.
By applying the edge of your quadrant to the
stile, and raising it till the thread of your
quadrant cuts the degree of latitude of your
place, then the top of the stile is parallel to
the earth's axis, and the plane of your dial is
parallel to the plane of the equinoctial circle
in the heavens. Still you need the 12 o'clock
or meridian line, which may be found most
readily by the method described in the articles
on Astronomy in Vol. I. of this Journal. Lest
some of our readers rnaj' not have seen those
papers, and to make our instructions complete
in themselves, we will repeat the directions.
TO CONSTRUCT A MERIDIAN LINE.
Prepare a horizontal plane of any size you
wish, on the sill of a south window, or set up
a post in the yard or garden, on which your
dial is to stand; make the top of it truly level
in every direction, which you can do with
your quadrant ; on this plane draw several
concentric circles as large as the plane will
admit of ; in the centre set a wire stile exactly
upright (a large knitting-needle is as good a
thing as you can get). Before noon on any
day when the sun shines, observe when the
end of the shadow cast by the wire touches
one of the circles you have drawn, and there
make a dot ; after noon you must watch when
the end of the shadow touches the same circle,
and at that point make another dot ; draw a
line between the two dots, and exactly sub-
divide it ; a line drawn through that point and
the centre of the circle will be a true meridian
line. You may get the 12 o'clock line more
exact by making a series of observations on
the several concentric circles and taking the
average of the whole. Then set the dial you
have constructed, with its 12 o'clock line to
correspond exactly with the meridian line you
have just found, and fasten the dial in place
by two or more strips of iron secured to the
post and to the edge of the dial.
Horizontal Dial is one whose plane lies
parallel to the horizon, and is the most com-
mon and most useful — the sun remaining on
it from sunrise till sunset. The form of the
plane on which you draw a dial is of no con-
sequence— whether square, round, or irregu-
lar— so the surface be a true plane ; neither
is the size material, only the larger you con-
struct it the more correctly can it be drawn.
Fig. 10 represents such a dial, and its mode
of construction.
Draw three concentric circles as a margin
to contain the figures ; draw the line A C,
which is the substilar or 12 o'clock line (but
not the meridian line on all dials), in which
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
57
line make choice of a point as at 0, a little
above the centre (by which means you enlarge
the hour spaces), through which point draw
the line VI C VI, at right angles to A C,
for the six o'clock hour line ; in the substilar
line, as at E, make choice of another point,
and through that, at right angles to A C, draw
the line D F. Having proceeded thus far, let
it be required to construct a dial for a given
latitude, say 51° 47' N ; open your compasses
to the chord of 60° ; set one foot in C, and
draw the arc All; then take the chord of
51° 47' and set it from A to B, and draw the
line C B, which gives you the true form of the
stile, or dial cock, as it is sometimes called ;
set one foot of your compasses in E, where
the line DEF cuts the meridian line, and
take the nearest distance to the hue C B, or
stile's height ; turn that point of your com-
pass about and make another mark on the
12 o'clock line at H, which represents the
centre of the equinoctial ; on H, as a centre,
draw the quadrant Gr E, and divide it into six
equal parts ; lay a rule to H, and those sev-
eral equal points, and where the ruler cuts
the line DEF, are the points through
which the hour lines must pass ; then lay the
ride to the centre C, and to those points in
the line DEF, and draw the hour lines ;
set off the same distances in the line DEF,
from E toward F, and draw the morning
hours ; those before six in the morning and
after six p. >i. are drawn by continuing the
same hour lines beyond the centre at C The
dial, after being correctly drawn, must be
truly set, or it will give erroneous indications
of time ; therefore the utmost care must be
exercised in setting it so that the 12 o'clock
hour line will coincide with the meridian you
have drawn on the place selected for your
dial.
An Erect South Dial is nothing more than
an upright south wall (which is the dial
plane) and faces the exact south point of the
horizon. As in the horizontal dial the eleva-
tion of the pole was equal to the latitude of
the place, so in this it is the complement of
the latitude. The sun never shines twelve
hours on this dial, except when it is in the
equinoctial, because the plane itself lies in the
prime vertical, and from March 20th to Sep-
tember 23d the sun does not come due east
until after six a. m., and is due west before
six p. m. In constructing this dial draw the
line VI VI across the plane you have made
choice of for the east and west line, or the hour
line of six o'clock; from A let fall the perpen-
dicular A F, for the 12 o'clock line; then with
your compasses take 60° from the scale of
chords and draw the arc B C VI; then take
the complement of the latitude of your place
from the same scale, and lay it from B to C,
and draw A C, which is the height of the
stile; make choice of any place in the 12 o'clock
line, as at I, and draw the line DIE,
parallel to VI VI; set one point of your com-
pass in I, and take the nearest distance to the
line A C; turn your compass down to F, and
from that point describe the semicircle G I
H, and divide it into 12 equal parts, for the
semicircle represents one-half of the equinoc-
tial; lay a rule to those points and to the
centre F, and mark the points where it cuts
the line DIE; then draw lines from A
through those points, and they will be the
true hour lines. If you wish the ^ hour divi-
sions you must divide the semicircle into 48
equal parts and draw the lines the same as
for the hours. Of course at the end of the
hour lines on the left you place the morning
hours, and the afternoon hours on the right.
If your dial be large you had best use an
iron rod, about the thickness of the lines you
draw for hour lines, being careful to fasten it
exactly over the 12 o'clock line. The angle
it makes with the plane of the dial (comple-
ment of the latitude) you can fix by your
quadrant. "When the thickness of the stile is
appreciable, you must make allowance for it
53
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
in drawing the two quadrants which you di-
vide for the hour distances, and you must
take a centre for each at F, just the half dia-
meter of your iron rod or stile distant from
the 12 o'clock line, otherwise your dial will
go too slow in the forenoon and too fast in
the afternoon.
ADJUSTMENT TO TEMPERATURE AND POSITION.
This subject, although one well worth the
earnest consideration of every watchmaker
making any pretence to a thorough knowl-
edge of his business, is, nevertheless, but very
little understood or practised by repairers in
the country. The reason for this may be
traced to two causes. First : The scarcity of
workmen qualified to impart to others this
very necessary branch of Horology ; and
Second : That those who are qualified, mainly
for mercenary motives, keep it a secret —
something not to be divulged. This state of
affairs is not alone confined to this branch,
but to very nearly all branches of Horology ;
and thus it is, on looking around us, that we
see so many poor workmen. Desirous of
bringing about a better state of affairs, I
shall, in the following article, give my method
of accomplishing Adjustments to Temperature
and Position.
As it is not possible to keep a watch in one
and the same position at all times, it is there-
fore very essential to the good performance
of the watch to adjust it so that the friction
in one position shall coincide with that in
another ; so that the watch in one position
loses or gains as much time as in another.
To accomplish this I strictly observe the fol-
lowing rules :
First. — The balance-staff pivots must have
the least possible diameter in proportion to
the size and weight of the balance.
Second. — The pivots must be well hardened,
te npered, and polished, so as to cause as
little friction as possible.
Third. — The jewel holes must somewhat
have the form of an hour-glass, whereby the
friction is considerably lessened; that is, more
so than if they were cylindrical.
Fourth. — Tha ends of the pivots must be
made nearly flat, whereby the regulation of
this adjustment is brought under perfect
control.
Fifth. — The hair-spring must be so placed
that the coils are perfectly concentric to the
balance-staff ; and after winding the watch,
set the hands to the exact time, as indicated
by a good regulator, and allow it to run six
hours in a vertical position. After this lapse
of time the difference between the watch and
regulator is carefully noted, and the watch is
again wound and set, and again run six hours
in a horizontal position, and the difference of
time likewise noted. On comparison of these
two results, should the watch have lost or
gained as much time in one as in the other
position, then the desired result is already
accomplished ; but should the watch, for in-
stance, have lost more time in a vertical than
in a horizontal position, this will denote that
there is too little friction in a horizontal,
compared to that in a vertical position ; and
consequently the ends of the pivots must be
still more flattened, whereby the friction in a
horizontal position is increased, and the
watch will lose time in proportion to the
amount of face given to the ends of the pivots.
But should the watch, on the contrary, have
gained time in the vertical position, this will
denote that the friction in a horizontal position
is too great, compared to that in a vertical
position ; and in this case, by rounding the
ends of the pivots in proportion to the time
lost in a horizontal, compared to that in a
vertical position, the balance will move
more free, and the watch will gain time in
that position. These alterations of the ends
of the pivots must be continued until the
watch in every position runs alike. If the
watch should by these experiments and
alterations have been caused to gain or lose
time, it can afterwards be regulated by the
hair-spring. Although the watch may be
provided with an isochronous spring, it is,
nevertheless, of the greatest importance to
carefully adjust it to position, even if there is
only the slightest difference of time discern-
ible between the different positions.
After the watch is so far completed that it
will in every position run alike, and after it
has been provided with an isochronous
spring, it is then the proper time to adjust to
AMERICAN HOROLOGrlCAL JOURNAL.
9
temperature (heat and cold). The first con-
sideration is, that the watch be well-regulated.
It is often the case that it gains or loses very
slightly, and the regulator (if it has any) is
too sensitive to regulate with ; in that case
it will be found necessary to resort to the
screws on the balance for the desired results
to be attained. The manner in which this is
effected is thus : If the watch gain time, one
or more screws on each arm of the balance
must be unscrewed, in proportion to the
amount of time gained ; if, on the contrary,
the watch loses, the screw or screws must be
turned in further, in proportion to the time
lost. It must be strictly observed that the
balance, in all these alterations of the screws,
remain exactly poised ; when the above direc-
tions have been followed and completed, we
proceed to adjust to temperature. First,
construct a box of tin or copper, with about
four or five compartments, one above another;
the upper one large enough to hold a ther-
mometer; these compartments must allbe her-
metically closed ; beneath this apparatus
place an ordinary alcohol lamp, and allow it
to remain lighted until the upper section
shows a heat of 130Q to 135° Fahr., which is
the limit to which the watch should be sub-
jected, and should be kept up to the same
number of degrees, by alternately placing
and removing the lamp from beneath the
apparatus. The watch is then placed in the
upper section, and allowed to run six hours in
that temperature (first having wound and cor-
rectly set it) ; it is then taken out, and the
difference of time noted ; the watch is then
placed in a refrigerator where the tempera-
ture is 10° to 15° below zero, being wound
and set, and allowed to run six hours ; the
difference is here likewise noted, and then
compared with the first. Should the watch
in both temperatures run the same, the
desired result is then already attained ; but
should the watch while in the heated box
have lost time, it will denote that the com-
pensation is not strong enough, and conse-
quently requires strengthening, which is ac-
complished by moving one or more screws
''according to the time lost) towards the cut
part on each arm of the balance, whereby the
weight of the screws becoming more active,
causes the compensation to be strengthened.
But if, on the contrary, the watch, while in
the heated box, shows to have gained time, it
denotes that the compensation is too strong,
and to weaken it will require the screw or
screws on each arm of the balance to be moved
further back from the cut part, in proportion
to the time gained. This moving must be
continued until the watch, in high and low
temperatures, keeps time alike. It sometimes
happens that the screws are not of sufficient
weight to influence the compensation,
although they be moved to the very verge of
the cut part ; in that case, heavier screws
must be substituted. It also sometimes hap-
pens that the compensation of itself is so
strong as to require lighter screws to be sub-
stituted. It must, however, be borne in
mind, that by all these changes of position, and
weight of the screws, the balance must not be
brought out of poise, and a screw on one arm
of the balance must not be moved an iota fur-
ther than the screw exactly opposite (in a
line through the centre of the balance with
itself). Care must also be taken that the
weight of the balance remain the same. It is
strongly advised that the slightest error in
the going of the watch in either temperature
should not be tolerated, for the regularity in
its time-keeping hereafter depends much on
the manner in which the watch has been pro-
vided with this adjustment.
Having occasion, since my last communi-
cation, to adjust a chronometer to isochron-
ism, I resolved to test Mr. Sandoz's theory.
After one failure; I succeeded in establishing
a correct isochronism. I then repeated the
experiment on another watch, and the result
was good ; and I think his method of causing
the vibrations of the balance to become isoch-
ronous is one that may be safely adopted.
Chas. Spiro.
JEWELLING.
The articles that appeared in the Journal
some time ago upon Jewelling, although very
interesting, were not "exhaustive," so I have
concluded to give my ideas upon that subject.
That I am qualified to have " my say," I will
premise my remarks by stating that I at one
time had charge of the jewelling department
in the factory that produces that unexcelled
60
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
American watch, known as the "Howard
watch," manufactured by E. Howard & Co.,
Boston, Mass., since which time I have, as
the Drs. say, enjoyed quite an extensive
" private practice."
I shall not stop to detail the evil effects of
the method employed by those who have no
foot lathe in putting in jewels, as they are
too well known to the better class of work-
men, but proceed to detail my method, ap-
pliances, results, etc., as far as they relate to
the ordinary replacing of a broken jewel. If
the reader wishes to jewel a watch that has
never been jewelled, I refer him to the articles
upon that subject that appeared in the Hoko-
logical Journal some time ago.
As it will not pay for a watchmaker to
make his own jewels, he ought to have a good
stock of fine jewels; and I am free to confess
that I have never yet seen a really fine article
offered for sale by the material dealers in this
country. I send to London, England, for
mine, and get a very superior article. A
good foot lathe is of course indispensable ;
with which, and his jewels and some diamond
powder, he is prepared to do a neat and
clean job.
On page 13, Vol. I., No. 1, is detailed the
manner of preparing the diamond powder
for use ; only substitute sperm oil for sweet
oil, as the latter will get thick and gummy
after it has been exposed to the air for some
time, and for a watchmaker three old style
oil cups, such as hold over a teaspoonful,
will answer the purpose of saucers, and are
much more convenient. As so little oil can
be used, the first receptacle should only stand
some ten or fifteen minutes before decanting
off ; the second about two or three hours.
After all the diamond powder is settled to the
bottom of No. 3, the surplus oil can be
poured off. Before the powder is prepared
it would be best to have a velvet-lined box,
made by a manufacturer of jewelry boxes, to
hold the three glass cups, as they can always
be kept together and free from dust ; \
of a carat will be a sufficient quantity to pre-
pare at once. As the modus operandi for jewel-
ling a new or plain watch is given in the arti-
cles on Jewelling, I shall, as before stated,
confine myself to that class of work that usu-
ally falls into the hands of the watch repairer. I
One frequent cause of a watch performing
badly can readily be traced to its imperfect
jewels. A watchmaker should always care-
fully examine every jewel in a watch that he
has down for repairs, and if he finds one the
hole of which is too large, or very much " out
of round " — that is, much wider in one direc-
tion than another — it should be replaced by
a good one, as follows : If the depth is
correct, notice whether the jewel is above
or below the surface of the plate ; if it is
either, then knock it out, and cement the
plate or bridge on a chuck in the lathe, being
careful to get it on true by the hole lately oc-
cupied by the jewel; by means of a burnisher,
such as is described on page 106, Vol. I., No.
4, raise the burr that holds the other jewel in,
and if a jewel can be found of the proper size
and thickness, and the hole not too large, it
can readily be " rubbed in " with the bur-
nisher ; if the hole is too small, it can be
opened, as described on page 75, Vol. I., No.
3. I make these refei'ences for two reasons :
first, to avoid repeating what has already
been written, and, secondly, to call particu-
lar attention to those passages in the articles
on Jewelling, that should be fully understood
before the novice attempts to set or open a
jewel. The chuck on which the article is ce-
mented should have a hole from a quarter to
half an inch deep in its centre. If no
jewel can be found of the right size and
thickness, select one a little too large, enlarge
the hole sufficiently to fit the jewel, then pro-
ceed to fasten it in, as described on page 106,
Vol. I., No. 4. If the jewel is broken, of
course the same remarks apply to replacing
it with a good one, as to an imperfect one. If
the jewels are contained in settings screwed
in, simply take out the setting and proceed
with it the same as with a plate or bridge.
One difficulty that the watchmaker has to
contend with in selecting a jewel from such
as are sold in this country, is to find one the
hole of which is in the centre of the jewel, as
all the refuse and trash in the way of jewels
are sent from Europe to this country for sale.
Those who wish to obtain a very superior arti-
cle, every one of which will be perfect, can do
so by sending to Samuel Holdsworth, 54
Spencer street, Clerkenwell, E. O, England.
I simply mention this gentleman's name, as I
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
61
have obtained some jewels from bim ; no
doubt but what otber parties tbere furnisb
equally good jewels. If a jewel is not true,
or ratber, if tbe bole in it is not in tbe cen-
tre, it must be cemented into a chuck in tbe
latbe, trued up by tbe bole, then turned off
witb a diamond cutter, and tbe cbamfer
carefully trued up and polisbed again ; wbile
on tbe latbe it can be turned down to fit tbe
bole in tbe setting or plate ; tbe sbellac is to
be removed from tbe plate witb alcobol. In
many instances a cbuck will bave to be
turned up to suit tbe particular job to be
done. Care must be taken in opening, or tbe
jewel will break or cbip around tbe bole.
Tbe corners must be carefully rounded by a
piece of wire larger tban tbe bole, tbe end of
wbicb is conical. It will take but a moment
to do tbis, but if care is not taken, too mucb
will be taken off.
Now any one wbo bas carefully read tbe
articles upon Jewelhng, and are supplied witb
tbe tools and materials above mentioned,
will, by exercising a due amount of care and
patience, be enabled to do a job tbat be will
not be asbamed of.
Jas. Feickee.
AiCEEicrs, Ga., August 8th, 1870.
OHX BLISS & CO.'S DIPliOYED TRANSIT
INSTRUMENT.
Tbe science of Horology, in its mere me-
chanical branch, or tbe art of constructing
tbe most intricate and perfect machines for
the purpose of measuring time, would be in-
complete without a true and reliable standard
to test it by. Moved by an appreciation of
this necessity, skilful workmen have at dif-
ferent times exerted their ingenuity to invent
the means for obtaining such a standard, and
their labor has been variously crowEed with
success ; but without a question the standard
time obtained by means of transit observa-
tions of heavenly bodies is the most reliable.
Hitherto the instruments for such observa-
tions have been confined to artronomical
observatories and colleges, because of the
great expense involved in connection with
them, and scientific men only have been sup-
1 capable of mastering them, as it re-
quired a degree of education not commonly
found among others ; but this need no more
be the case. Horology is only a part of the
great science of astronomy, and the transit
instrument really belongs to the trade.
In the beautiful production of a transit
instrument by the above firm, the trade is
furnished with the means of obtaining a cor-
rect standard of time, and at a very small
cost compared witb the benefit to be derived
from it ; moreover, these gentlemen have
furnished a method of setting in the meridian
and computing transits, so that the most in-
experienced cannot fail to accomplish it in
the first trials, and their instructions are so
simple that any one being able to read can
understand them.
The result of their invention is a decided
step in advance in the progress of Horology,
inasmuch as it brings it within the reach of
the poorest storekeeper to possess one of
their instruments. Though quite small, it is
nevertheless susceptible of the most delicate
adjustment, in every respect equal to those
in large observatories. An inspection of the
results of its operation will establish the truth
of this beyond a doubt. The following results,
which are copied from the daily account of our
observations of the sun, though not absolutely
perfect in uniformity as to tbe fractions, will,
nevertheless, testify to the accuracy of the
instrument :
SECS.
SECS.
July 28.
Clock fast
= 8.82
" 29
u
9.63 ..
.. G
ain
per day .
... 0.81
" 30
11
10.41 . .
it
"
. . . 0.78
Aug. 1
If
11.66 ..
.
It
"
... 0.62
" 2
II
12.19 ..
II
"
... 0.53
" 3
II
12.80 . .
"
"
... 0.61
" 4
•'
13.47 . .
II
ii
... 0.67
" 5
it
13.6 ..
II
... 0.20
" 6
"
14 09 ..
. . . 0.42
" 8
If
15.12 ..
"
... 0.51
" 9
(I
15.78 . .
II
ii
.. 0.66
The clock was set to correct time on the
15th of July, which for the twenty-five days
to the 9th of Aug. makes its average gain per
day 0.63 of a second; the greatest deviation
from which in the last ten observations is only
0.4 of a second.
In connection with our solar observations,
and for the purpose of proving these correct,
we also observed transits of fixed stars of dif-
ferent altitudes. On tbe 5th of Aug. we
62
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
observed the transit of y Draconis Decl. 51°
30' North; at 8h. 57m.49s.53 its true meridian
passage was at 8h. 55m. 59s. 22, making clock
fast lm. 50s. 31. For the convenience of travel
the clock is set to Philadelphia time, which
is lm. 36s. 43 faster than our time. Subtract-
ing this, makes clock fast 13s.88.
The same day we observed the transit of
H' Sagittarii Decl. 21° 5' south, making clock
fast 13s. 63 ; also that of Vega Decl. 38° 39'
north, made clock fast 13s. 78.
Frequent comparison of our time with that
of Wm. H. Harpur, of Philadelphia, also made
it, as near as we can tell, correct to the second.
It is doubtful that a much nearer approach
to perfection could be made with a transit of
larger dimensions ; but certain it is, that for
all practical purposes this is near enough,
and we can recommend it with the utmost
confidence to all who take pleasure in their
business. It is not only a comfort and satis-
faction to be able to determine the correct
time, but the money which the instrument
costs is invested at large interest.
Theo. Gribi.
Wilmington, Del.
PINION MEASUREMENT.
There probably is no part of watch-making,
excepting the escapement, that is susceptible
of more careful adjustment, than the depthing
of the wheels and pinions ; for the regularity
in the going of the watch depends as much
on these depthings, as it does on the careful
adjustment of the parts comprising the
escapement, and it matters little how well
shaped, or how well finished the teeth of
either wheel or pinion may be, if the depth is
not correct the result will be very unsatis-
factory. Then, again, if the size of the pinion
is out of proportion to the size of the wheel,
the workman will assuredly find it an im-
possibility to obtain a correct depth. For
that reason I have prepared the following
table of pinion measurements, which, if
exactly followed, will enable any workman
to determine the exact size of pinion required.
I have purposely withheld a description of
the mode of calculation by which these tables
have been obtained, for the reason that the
majority of repairers have not the education
required to fully understand it, and it would,
therefore, seem dry and uninteresting. It
must be understood that the measurement
of the diameter of a pinion, in this table, is
constantly on the wheel by which it is driven.
A pinion of 6 leaves must have the diameter
of 3 teeth, measured on the wheel, from the
very top of the first tooth to the top of the
third tooth ; for clocks, it must have 3 full
teeth, — that is, from the outer side of the first
tooth to the outer side of the third tooth. A
pinion of 7 leaves must have the diameter of
3 full teeth ; for clocks, 3£ full teeth. A
pinion of 8 leaves must have the diameter of
3| teeth, measured from the tops of the teeth ;
for clocks, 4 teeth, also measured on the
tops. A pinion of 9 leaves must have the
diameter of 4i teeth measured on the tops of
the teeth ; for clocks, the same. A pinion of
10 leaves must have the diameter of 4 full
teeth ; for clocks, the same. A pinion of 11
leaves must have the diameter of 4^ full
teeth ; for clocks, the same. A pinion of 12
leaves must have the diameter of 4| full
teeth ; for clocks, 5 full teeth. A pinion of
13 leaves must have the diameter of 4| full
teeth ; for clocks, the same. A pinion of 14
leaves must have the diameter of 6 leaves,
measured on the tops of the teeth ; for
clocks, the same. A pinion of 15 leaves must
have the diameter of 6 full teeth ; for clocks,
6£ full teeth. A pinion of 16 leaves must
have the diameter of 6| full teeth ; for clocks,
6 \ full teeth. There is an instrument sold in
the tool shops named the Proportion Circle,
which has for its object the measurement of
the diameter of the pinion by the size of the
wheel, and vice, versa ; but this tool is only of
use when new, for they are very apt to get
bent, and otherwise out of order, which con-
dition renders it useless, — for where there is
such precision required, as in the measure-
ment of a pinion, this cannot be tolerated.
But if the workman will take the trouble of
committing to memory the few directions
given above, it will repay him by having not
only an instrument always at hand, but one
that will never get out of order, and always
be correct.
Charles Spiro.
918 Eighth Avenue, N. Y.
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
63
OETHO-CHEOXOGRAPHY.
In the June number of the London Horo-
logical Journal is the description of a very
useful, simple, and portable instrument for
getting- the apparent time at meridian.
"We shall take pleasure in some future
number in giving a full description and mode
of using it. We were a little surprised at
the name the inventor chose for it. Had it
been an American invention, it -would not
have been strange ; but in England, where
" Chronography " was well known as a species
of literary art, and as samples of it are scat-
tered all over the kingdom — on churches,
monuments, dials, books, etc. — it seems hardly
correct to apply the name to the instrument
described. The inventor calls it an Ortho-
Chronograph. As we understand the word
here, its literal meaning would be writing the
correct time. Had he called it an Ortho-
Chronoscope it would have been correctly
named, for it really is a view of the coiTect time.
It may be of interest to some of our readers
to know a little about the quaint art of
" Chronography." Here, in the New World,
those old fashions, relics of the past, are not
constantly before us as they are in Europe,
and consequently seldom thought of. The
practice of making chronographs for the ex-
pression of dates in books and epitaphs (and
especially on medals and coins) was a very
common literary amusement as early as the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One of
the most remarkable, commemorating the
death of Queen Elizabeth, is as follows : " My
Day Is Closed In Immortality." The arith-
metical formula of which is M = 1000 -j- D
=500 -f C = 100 -f III =3 ; the whole sum
= 1603.
In the second paper by Addison, on the
different species of false wit {Spectator, No.
60), is noticed the medal which was struck
off to Gustavus Adolphus, with the motto
"Christ Vs Dec X ergo tr IVMphVs" If
you take the pains, continues the author, to
pick the figures out of the several words, and
arrange them in their proper order, you will
find they amount to MDCXVWH., or 1627
— the year in which the medal was stamped.
The following is the quaint title of a book
printed in 1661 : " Magna Charta ; Or the
Christian's Character Epitomized. In a ser-
mon preached at the funeral of the Right
Worshipful, the Lady Mary Farewell, at Hill-
Bishops, near Taunton, by Geo. Newton,
Minister of the Gospel there.
D. FareweLL ob It Maria saLVt Is
In anno
Hosannos posltos VIXIt and Ipsa
VaLe."
The four Latin lines with which the title con-
cludes form a chronogram, or inscription,
comprising a certain date and number, ex-
pressed by those letters inserted in large
characters, which are to be taken separately
and added together according to their value
as Roman numerals. When the arithmetical
letters occurring in the first two lines are
thus taken, they will be found to compose the
year 1660, when the Lady Farewell died (as
the words declare) ; and when the numerals
are selected from the last two lines they ex-
hibit 74, her age at the time, as they also
indicate, thus —
D= 500 1= 1
LL= 100 VIXI=17
1= 1
MI 1001 VL = 55
LVI 56 —
II 74
1660
The lady who was commemorated in the
inscription was the daughter of Sir Edwd.
Seymour, of Berrie Castle, in Devonshire, and
was the wife of Sir Geo. Farewell, Knight.
It was recorded in the epitaph on his monu-
ment at Hill-Bishops, that she died Dec. 13,
1660, and that she was the mother of twenty
children.
The above chronograph singularly illus-
trates a passage in Shakespeare. It will be
observed that the Rev. G. Newton takes
advantage of the double letters at the end of
Farewell to express 100. See how the " good
M. Holofernes," in Love's Labor Lost, intro-
duces the same thought into his sonnet, as an
exquisite and far-fetched fancy —
" If Love be sore, then L, to sore,
Makes Fifty Sores ; Oh ! sore L !
Of one sore I an Hundred make
By adding but one more L."
64
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
On the upper border of a sun-dial, affixed
to the west end of Nantevich Church, Che-
shire, there appeared, pievious to its removal
about the year 1800, the following inscription:
"Honor Do MIno propa Ce VLo sVo parta."
The numerals, it will be seen, make up the
number 1661, which was the year of the
coronation of King Charles II., and no doubt
the year in which the dial was erected.
The banks of the Rhine furnish abundant
examples of this literary pleasantry, on the
beams of churches — on the fronts of galleries
— over church doors — some in stone, some in
wood — many with the capitals rubricated.
When our own wonderful antiquities are
investigated, and the buildings and structures
and carvings of the great South-west come to
be studied, and their hidden meaning (if
there be any) is known, possibly the New
World may prove to be the oldest.
NEW STAKING TOOL.
Mr. D. M. Bissell, of Shelburne Falls,
Mass., has just obtained a patent on his
staking tool, and will immediately take steps
to introduce it to the trade.
The nature of this invention consists in the
use of a solid block of iron or other metal, in
which is closely fitted a cast steel plate span-
ning a deep groove in the block. In this plate
are a series of holes, graduated in size, so as
to allow the pivot of a wheel or pinion to pass
through, and the wheel to rest upon the flat
surface of the plate while being operated
upon. A movable guide is so arranged, that
a punch or other tool desired to be used may
be brought directly over any one of the holes
in the plate, and secured by a set screw.
This device is very useful for riveting wheels,
as well as for rounding and stretching ; also,
as a freeing tool, and for finishing bushings,
closing rivet holes, removing table rollers
from balance staffs, and various other pur-
poses.
Want of space prevents our giving any
detailed description at this time ; but its
many advantages will be seen from the fact
that the small tools used (and to which there
is scarcely any limit) all have a perfect guide,
so that the working must necessarily be ac-
curate.
JEAN PAUL GAENIEK.
Jean Paul Grarnier was born at Epinal
(Vosges), in November, 1801. His father
dying when he was ten years old, left him to
provide for himself. Commencing in a print-
ing house, he soon left for a locksmith's shop,
and from there to a clockmaker, where he re-
mained contented. When a skilful workman,
the great reputation of a master Horologist
in Luseuil attracted him there, where he re-
mained till 1820, when he went to Paris to
join Lepine, who was then at the height of
his renown. After five years spent with him,
G-arnier established himself in business alone.
Soon after he invented and presented to the
Academy of Sciences a free Remontoir escape-
ment of constant force, marking the seconds
with a pendulum of half-seconds vibration.
This escapement was founded on a new prin-
ciple, as its pendulum was removed from the
variable action of its motive power, and was
highly approved by MM. Arago, Molard, and
Mathieu.
He presented to the Exposition of 1827 a
regulator, with astronomical arrangements,
which he constructed entirely without the aid
of machinery. It was distinguished by the
beauty and finish of all its parts, the simpli-
city of its mechanism, and the exactitude
with which it indicated the most complicated
astronomical facts. It also represented the
annual revolution of the sun ; its entrance into
the zodiacal signs ; the equation of time ; the
rising and setting of the sun ; as well as the
periodical, synodical, and daily revolution of
the moon, and its various phases, having but
a few seconds of error during the entire
year — the effect which different temperature
produced on the ball of the pendulum being
compensated by two movable bodies which
act in an inverse sense and maintain the same
arcs of vibration.
His profound knowledge of the most dif-
ficult questions of Horology placed him in
communication with the most celebrated and
accomplished artists of Europe, among others
with Antide Janvier, who was proud to com-
plete the instruction of a young man of such
rare talents.
Garnier's next invention was a Sphygmom-
eter, an instrument which indicates to the
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
65
eve the movements of the pulse, and which,
till then, had only been known by the touch.
This has become indispensable in the study
of the circulation of the blood, and has merit-
ed the highest encomiums of Drs. Marey and
Magendie.
The invention of a new escapement, ap-
plicable to portable clocks, by its simple
arrangement and easy manufacture, gave rise
to a new kind of timepiece, called Pendicle de
Venture, which met with such success that
several millions per annum are manufactured
in France. Some years later he improved
these, making them give, on the same dial,
the days of the week, month, and the phases
of the moon.
He next applied to ship chronometers the
free Kemontoir escapement of constant force,
causing the balance to describe arcs rigor-
ously correct, dispensing with the fusee here-
tofore used in all chronometers. About the
same time he invented a new Metallic Ther-
mometer ; also a Micrometer so delicate it
indicated a variation of ^Voo" millimetre.
Not content with his already great reputa-
tion, he continued hi3 inventions, next
making the reckoner, or meter, which, when
attached to any machinery, gives its revolu-
tions and movements, arranging the figures
on a single line, that they may be read in a
moment. So necessary has this become to
all machines, that there are now many houses
devoted entirely to its manufacture. After-
wards he made it yet more complete by
adding an attachment giving the hours, min-
utes, and seconds. Either could be used
separately; and together, it registered, at
once, the number of revolutions of the ma-
chinery, and the length of time of its work-
ing. This was adopted by the Marine and
Financial Departments, and applied to steam-
boats and the Mediterranean mail-packets. It
is useless to enumerate single instances, so we
will content ourselves with this extract from the
report of one of our first engineers : " The Gar-
nier Computing Meter, for locomotives, gives
the number of revolutions of the wheels, conse-
quently the distance passed over by their cir-
cumference, also the difference between this
and the space actually gone over, from which
we find the slipping. It gives the attendance
and feeding of the engine at the stations.
With the clock attachment it gives the num-
ber of revolutions during the time the engine
has worked. On the arrival of a train, whose
time of leaving is noted on the conductor's
schedule, this meter gives, by the clock, the
time the engine has worked ; by the meter,
the space traversed by the wheels. The dif-
ference between the total time of the trip, and
the total stoppings at intermediate stations,
gives the mean speed of the train. It shows
the comparison of the fuel used with the dis-
tance passed over.
" For steamboats it indicates the number
of revolutions and the space gone over by the
paddle-wheels, or screw, in a given time, as
well as the time of working the engine. The
variations of effect on the engine by currents
of different depths of water are also indicated
by it. The detention at stations, and the ac-
celeration by the sails, are given. It gives
the motive power — as compared with the
speed of the boat — the number of revolutions
made by a given amount of steam — the ex-
pense per hour of the fuel consumed — and, if
furnished with an indicator, the quantity of
water vaporized deducted from the specific
weight of the steam at the pressure given in
the cylinder. This meter, connected with
the piston, indicates the volume of water
flowing into the boiler in a given time, and
compares it with the steam furnished the
cylinder."
At the solicitation of the Conseil de la
Marine, P. Garnier constructed the Dynamo-
meter, taking the primitive idea of Watt,
adding many useful modifications, and using
great care in its manufacture. After numer-
ous trials it was judged superior to anything
ye t known. The Council of Admiralty and the
Minister of the Marine ordered all steamers
to be provided with it, and allowed no engine
to be received unless provided with this ap-
paratus. This Dynamometrical Indicator is
indispensable in showing the pressure of
steam on the cylinders, and the vacuum ob-
tained by its condensation. It gives the
exact motive power' transmitted, as well as
the amount of power lost by friction. Its
undoubted utility made it universally adopted,
and we owe to it our most interesting works
on the power of machinery.
At the Exposition of 1844, the jury, recog-
63
AMEBICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
nizing that " M. Paul Gamier is at the same
time a skilful Horologist and a good con-
structor of ingenious mechanical apparatus,
wishing to reward, in this man, both the
learned Horologist and skilful mechanic,
award him the Gold Medal."
Gamier now added a third to the preced-
ing Indicators, and including both the others.
This measured the total work of the steam,
and the air in the cylinder of the engine.
This instrument, already used in England by
Prof. Moseley, lost its British origin through
Garnier's improvements. He substituted Pon-
celet's horizontal plate, with alternate move-
ment, for Moseley 's planimetrical cone with
continued movement, adding an arrange-
ment for sketching curves and making
diagrams. This last instrument was the
cause of a sharp discussion with M. Lapointe.
It was first applied, in France, to the pneu-
matic cylinders of the atmospheric railroad
of St. Germain, and it served to estimate
precisely this power, in comparison with the
steam and caloric engines, the rarification of
the air, its compression, and the working of
the valves.
Gamier also invented a Horary Indicator
for the safety of railroad trains. It was of
clock-work, with a dial placed near the road,
on which a hand told the minutes and
returned to zero after each passing train,
thus showing the time between two successive
trains. This was in use at Columbia, at Or-
leans, and on the Northern road.
In the first trials of the Electric Telegraph,
M. Gamier participated in the competition,
and presented a system of telegraphy by
means of a lettered dial. This was not a suc-
cess ; but, thinking electricity might be em-
ployed as a motive power to clocks, he turned
his researches in that direction, and pro-
duced a system of electric clocks, giving the
hour synchronically, which were the first and
only ones in Prance. For these he received
a gold medal at the Exposition of 1849. The
Council of Dock Yards proposed to the Min-
ister of Public Works to adopt this system of
electrical horology. The public applications
of it in France were made simultaneously at
Lille station, on the Northern Bailroad, and
the stations from Paris to Chartres, and at
St. Lazare. This system spread rapidly, and
is in use in most of the public buildings. To
the sympathy and friendship of the engineers,
M. Gamier was much indebted for the intro-
duction of his special apparatus for stations.
A similar regulator gave M. Leverier the
precise difference between the longitude of
Paris and Havre. He arranged an automa-
tic roller for the rapid and regular trans-
mission of Morse's telegraphic alphabet.
This is the indispensable complement to the
American telegraph, for it will transmit mes-
sages in several directions at the same time.
For the perfection given to clocks and elec-
tric telegraphs, he was awarded the medal of
honor. At the Universal Exposition at Dijon,
in 1858, he received a gold medal for a col-
lection of his works. In Besancon, where
Genevan and Swiss horology was carefully
compared with French works, P. Gamier
was chosen member of the jury, and, finally,
in remuneration of his numberless services
and useful and important inventions, was
elected Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
He was a member of the Society for Encou-
ragement of National Industry, and of the
Civil Engineers. After the annexation of
Savoy, he was chosen to look after the state
of watch-making in Chablais and Fancigny,
where this work was so well adapted to the
habits of the people, and to their climate.
After a careful study of their work, and
comparison with that of Switzerland, Geneva,
and Besancon, he gave a detailed report,
which resulted in locating horological estab-
lishments in French Savoy.
Paul Garnier's life was a struggle of talent
and labor against accumulated obstacles, be-
fore which a less indomitable courage, and a
less brilliant intelligence, would have failed.
This struggle began in his earliest years, and
ended only with his life. He learned in
working; he won the esteem and affection of
those for whom, and with whom, he labored.
Struggling himself against ignorance, he
raised a numerous and distinguished family,
ever consecrating the largest part of his
gains to the education of his children. Now
his life is finished, having honored remem-
brances, and universal regrets.
Why are such examples so rare ? Because
an inflexible rectitude was its governing
power. Exact in his work, in his word, and
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
67
in his business, in its minutest detail — in the
scrupulous and persevering care he gave each
one of his works, we see how he inspired re-
spect for his character, trust for his word, and
love for his life.
To such memories, a simple recital of their
works is the most beautiful and fitting elegy.
We have done this, because, for thirty years
we have witnessed the works whose history
we have sketched, thus briefly and imper-
fectly.— Revue Chronometique.
INBUSTBIAL EXPOSITION IN ALTONA.
We are indebted to M. Morritz Grossmann
for a description of the Exposition in Altona,
as furnished the Industrie Zeitung, from which
we make extracts, not having space for the
article entire :
" Among the French exhibitors the impor-
tant manufactory of One'sime Dumas, at St.
Nicholas d'Aliermont, France, received the
Diploma of Honor for an excellent chronome-
ter and a meter of peculiar construction. The
renowned firm, Louis Breguet, Paris (also
among the prize judges), exhibited the finest
assortment of watches and scientific instru-
ments. The watches were executed with
astonishing care, and showed in their design
the ingenious originality which has, for many
generations, characterized this family. Among
instruments for observation I noticed the
Compteur a Point age (meter for pointing).
The index, springing f second, bears on the
end, beneath its perforated frame, a little
printer's ink. Through this frame a needle
point pierces (propelled by an outward
spring) and by this means produces a dot
upon the dial, which, after final observations,
can be easily erased. Farther on we see a
sphygmograph, an instrument designed to
register the accelerations or irregularities of
the beating of the pulse, thus greatly assist-
ing the physician in his diagnosis. Yet fur.
ther, amongl the Breguet collection, was an
electro-magnetic telegraph, which needed no
battery, and, as it at all times and without any
preparation can be set in motion, it especially
adapts itself for use on ship-board. The ex-
plosive apparatuses (combustible and spring-
ing) for the art of defence and for the
management of mines, were finely planned
and executed. The watch factory of H. H-
Marten, of Freiburg, in Briesgau, exhibited
an elegant assortment of beautiful anchor
watches, and preparatory works, and single
parts of the same, and well maintained its
claim to the fame of gold medals received in
former Expositions. A similar distinction
was awarded Gustav Beeker, in Freiburg-
Silesia, who merited it through a rich assort-
ment of beautiful and praiseworthy articles,
such as regulators with and without cases.
His manufacture exceeds 7,000 pieces yearly.
The collection of B. Haas, of BesanQon,
showed an incredible number of watches and
pocket chronometers. Watches in ivory
cases with gold rims, watches with glass faces
and backs, the dial even of glass, and the
plates perforated, so one could see through
the whole watch. One watch which opened
and closed at the face, was pointed out by the
exhibitor as entirely new and of his own in-
vention, though it is known that this was
patented two years ago in Birmingham. In
a word, there was almost no variety of watch
unrepresented, and this, to the non-connois-
seur, lent an especial interest to the assort-
ment. Less apparent lo the connoisseur was
the fact, that the inner arrangement of works
must follow determined principles, though
they seemed various. The distribution of
single parts here and there might almost
awaken the belief that pendulums and spring-
boxes had been proposed to constructors as
fancy articles. Judging from these samples,
it seems as if the manufactory of B. Haas, in
spite of the remarkably scientific regulations,
might not present the greatest success. Some
tower-clocks deserving notice were exhibited
by Harkensee, of Cutin, Hansen, of Altona,
Wenle, of Bocken, near Hildsheim, and by
Dokel, of Hanover. That of Hansen was dis-
tinguished by a peculiar method of winding.
A stationary warder controlling clock was
exhibited by Ortling & G olze, of Neumunster,
and a portable one of the same kind by Burk,
of Schevermingen. Toys were scarcely repre-
sented. Beside the objects cited, there were
displayed (as everywhere on great occasions)
a quantity of pendulum clocks, the occasional
productions of workmen unaccustomed to their
68
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
manufacture. These were well done as to
order and execution, still not above the level
of common work. Finally, the Exposition
was injured by the display of a medium
assortment of Swiss and Paris manufactures,
whose owner, a resident of Altona, or Ham-
burg, had no other claim to them than that
of having bought them. There are many
who consider an Industrial Exposition only
as an annual fair, so its higher aim is wholly
perverted. The Horological section of the
Altona collection was very deficient, for rea-
sons formerly given, yet it had an influence
to instruct, by means of comparing its own
chronometer productions with the same de-
partment of French industry.
M. Grossmann.
TRIFLES.
Never, when taking a movement apart, drive
the centre squarq arbor without supporting
the bridge in some manner; it is usually very
thin and easily bent, but almost impossible to
restore to its original appearance when a
bend has once got into the surface.
Never open a watch case by inserting a
screw-driver, and giving it a twist; it is a bad
habit, for which there is no good excuse, and
no workman will ever be guilty of " haggling"
up a case, as such a practice is sure to do.
Never scratch the number of your watch
record on a case where it can be seen without
the aid of a glass ; some reckless tinkers sc
mar the beauty of a case in this way as to
seriously irritate the owner. We once knew
a journeyman who barely escaped a sound
thrashing' from the owner of a watch, in
which he had scratched his number in such
awkward scrawling figures as to be visible at
arms' length.
Never put in a main- spring without ex-
amining carefully whether any teeth or pinion
leaves are broken or bent in the main, centre,
or third wheel ; by so doing you will often
save yourself the extra trouble of taking the
watch down a second time to repair damage
done by the recoil of the breaking spring.
Never pour oil from the bottle into the oil-
cup; it is wasteful, more being lost by drip
than is used, besides the danger of taking up
the fine dust adhering to the flange of the
bottle. The neat, handy, economical way is
to dip your oil wire to the bottom of the bottle,
and it will bring away two or more drops, if
raised quickly, which let fall into the oil-cup;
repeat till you have taken out the requisite
quantity.
Never allow yourself, or any one else, to
use the plyers, or tweezers, which are for
watch work, in the repair of jewelry; they are
sure to get a speck of soldering fluid (hydro-
chlorate of zinc) on them, even the fumes of
which at ordinary temperature will rust any
steel work with which it comes in contact.
Never . leave the wick of an alcohol lamp
uncovered; the evaporation of the alcohol
from the wick leaving the water behind (which
is less volatile) renders it impossible to light
it until the lamp is tilted so as to bring a new
supply to the top, or the wick pulled up and
cut off again ; both of which take time and
consume patience. An extinguisher slij>ped
over the wick prevents the evaj) oration, and
the lamp is always ready to burn as soon as
the match is applied.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
G. N. L., Baldwinsville, N. Y. — The very
large proportion of watches coming for repairs
which bear indelible marks of carelessness
and incompetency, is evidence that those
" new to the business " are not the only ones
who need instruction.
To begin at the beginning, a good bench is
indispensable ; for no one can do as well with
poor accommodations as if well fixed. A
chest of drawers for tools is an important
adjunct ; tools should be in good order ; one
pair, at least, of plyers should be lined with
brass, to handle polished pieces without
marring them. You are now ready to take
down, examine, put to rights, and clean a
watch — supposing m this case that no new
parts are required. First see that the hands
and motion work are free ; examine the
escapement — the depth of lock the tooth has
on the pallet ; look to the safety action that
it is free, and when forced against the roller
that the wheel tooth does not get upon the
impulse face of the pallet ; examine the end-
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
69
shakes of all pieces — escapement and train ;
depths of wheels and pinions ; see that the
pinions are all secure in the wheels ; that
jewels, holes, and end-stones are firmly set ;
see that the main spring is the proper width,
strength, and length ; and as we meet with
so many springs that are not correct, it is
evident that somebody needs instruction on
this point.
The arbor should be one-third the'diameter
of the barrel inside ; the spring should fill
the barrel one-third, and if a going barrel,
should be of such thickness as to admit
thirteen coils — fusee watches requiring ten to
twelve coils, according to the calculations.
Occasionally a watch requires - a variation
from the regular rule, stronger or weaker, as
the case may be. All bars, bridges, stop-
work, etc., should be taken off ; the fusee
and great wheel should be taken apart and
thoroughly pegged ; the barrel-bridge (if a,
going barrel watch) must be taken all in
pieces. After pegging the pinions and holes,
and removing all old oil from pivot§, jewels,
etc., with the pith, wash it, using fine Castile
soap ; rinse in clean water, and put it in
best alcohol, taking it out as soon as the
washing process is completed, and drying
with a clean soft cotton or linen rag ; after
which go over with a soft clean brush, to
remove all particles of lint. To give the
gilding the best appearance, brush in circles,
breathing on the work occasionally ; but
little brushing, however, will be necessary.
A very pernicious practice prevails with many
workmen, of putting their dirty work, all
sineai'ed with oil, directly in the alcohol ; the
result being a change in the complexion of
the gilding ; and if two pieces are left toge-
ther you have tivo shades, varying from the
original.
In putting up, be careful to use no more
oil than is necessary, and to put it just where
required — the barrel bridge and click being
parts that show " slobbering" most of any.
If the proper quantity is put just where
wanted, none ever reaches the click; and cer-
tainly nothing looks worse than oil " stewing"
out, smearing bridge and click. If an ad-
justed watch, and no damage has happened
to balance pivots, or spring, disturb noth-
ing except to put in beat, if not so already.
If a common or medium class watch, take off
the spring and test the poise of the balance;
if not correct, make it so. Put the spring on
an arbor in the turns, and with a bow rotate
to see if it is true in the spiral and flat ; if
not, correct it. To get your spring parallel
to the balance without bending, make the hole
in the stud parallel to the cock, and file a pin
to fit the hole ; then flatten one side similar
to a flat-faced cylindrical ruby pin, until it
will enter, with the spring in its place, nearly
as far as without it ; cut off the point to pro-
per length — rather short — and round it off
with a fine file ; mark and cut off the pin,
leaving a good length of head to get hold of.
Now a little twist of the pin will put the
spring in any position, and you can in a mo-
ment get it perfectly parallel to the balance,
without bending. Now set the watch going,
with the regulator pins close on the spring,
and the regulator well back to slow on the
index ; and if it does not go very near time,
alter the spring until it does so, with the regu-
lator in the position referred to. The object
of this is to get the most uniform rate pos-
sible, and it is attained with the regulator as
near the stud as possible. If the coils are
cramped, take the spring from the balance
again, without unpinning from the stud, and
put them in their places on the cock, and
bend, or open the coils, as may be necessary
to make the collet concentric to the staff hole.
If the spring is greasy, or in any way dirty,
dip it in benzine or ether a few seconds — the
former is best — and you have it perfectly
clean. After you have put it in beat, and are
sure that the balance will not have to be
taken out again, put oil to the holes, a little
only to the pallets — none to the fork ; if a
duplex escapement, oil must be put to roller
— none to impulse pallet ; a chronometer re-
quires oil only to pivots ; set going and your
watch is "in order."
Now, many will say that this is too much
work for the price of cleaning ; certainly it is,
and you must make the price according to
the time spent upon it. It is cheaper to the
customer if you charge double1 price for your
time, than if done in the usual style of dry
brushing and without the corrections.
W. W. S., Danville, 111. — The reduction of
alloys in the reguline or metallic form is a
70
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
matter of great uncertainty, and is a branch
of the subject of electro-metallurgy, which
has not been reduced to fixed and definite
laws. The action of the voltaic current, in
connection with the nature of the surfaces
acted upon and the temperature of the solu-
tion, all together, or separately, present con-
ditions which seem to elude the researches of
the scientific chemist, as well as severely per-
plex and vex ihe practical gilder, it is gener-
ally understood that the decomposition of the
various salts is attributable to the secondary
action of hydrogen, termed electro chemical
decomposition, and it is well ascertained
that different metals, or even the same metals
under different circumstances, evolve hydro-
gen from the same solution with various facil-
ities. It is natural to suppose that if it be
a law, as some assert, that the voltaic circuit
is invariably completed in that mode which
offers least resistance to the passage of the
force, that there are some cases where the
nature of the negative plate, on which the re-
duction of the new deposit takes place, influ-
ences the result ; this is actually found to be
the case, and the difficulty you have experi-
enced seems to be a similar case ; for some-
times in the self same solution, when a smooth
negative plate is used the circuit would rather
be completed by reducing the metal, but when
a rough plate is employed, like your low
quality chain, by the evolution of hydrogen.
This most interesting fact is in no instance
better shown than in a slightly acidulated so-
lution of sulphate of zinc, from which bright
zinc will go freely down on smooth platinum;
whilst from platinized platinum (crystallized)
the hydrogen would be evolved. This ex-
periment may be varied in a hundred analog-
ous ways, with results at one time in favor of
the evolution of the gas, at another by the
decomposition of the compound; but the exact
relation which various metals perfectly di-
vided in the solution bear to each other, or
even to themselves in different solutions, or
in the same solution at different temperatures,
is very difficult exactly to determine. As a
general principle, to obtain a deposit of two
or more bodies on any negative pole you
must use a quantity of the voltaic force more
than sufficient to reduce the elementary sub-
stance from the compounds most readily de-
composed ; usually you will find that the cur-
rent will pass through the road which presents
the least obstacle, whether it be solid or fluid,
elementary or compound, great or small.
Ordinarily, the smoother the surface, the
more favorably the deposit will take place
upon it ; from a rough surface the hydrogen
has a greater tendency to be evolved, and the
electric current must be suited to these vary-
ing circumstances ; but in general a feeble
current only is required, and the surface of
the positive pole exposed to the action of the
solution should not exceed the surface
of the object to receive the deposit, and the
quantity of electricity allowed to pass may
and must be regulated to the utmost preci-
cision, by allowing more or less of the positive
pole in contact with the solution. To con-
duct this process with the greatest economy
of time, the quantity of electricity should be
so regulated to the strength of the metallic
solution that the hydrogen is kept below
the point of evolution from the negative pole;
for you must always bear in mind, that the
evolution of hydrogen is attended with evil,
as the deposit will then be in one of the
finely divided states, or even as a black
powder. During the process, particularly
if the object have a rough surface, it is a good
plan to remove it from the solution before
the completion of the process, and rub it with
a hard brush and a small quantity of whiting
or rotten-stone, and well wash it ; by these
means any finely divided metal will be
removed, and the gold will be deposited in a
very even manner. This cleansing will not
be required if the deposition takes place
very slowly, from the auro-cyanide solution.
If the precipitated layer be very thiu, the
color will be greenish yellow ; when thicker
it will be the color of pure metal. The state of
the surface of the reduced gold^aries with
the rapidity of the process, in relation to the
strength of the metallic solution ; if reduced
very slowly it will assume the beautiful frosted
appearance of dead gold. If deposited more
rapidly, the surface will have a brighter ap-
pearance ; if still more rapidly the surface
will again begin to be brown, and quicker
than this the operator must not conduct his
process, for then the spongy (or crystalline)
deposit begins.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
71
The probabilities are that the great extent
of surface which your chain presented to the
action of the solution, compared with the
surface presented by the opposite pole, in
some way modified its action. Had you pro-
portionally increased the size of the positive
pole, which would in effect have increased
the electric current passing, perhaps you
might have got a deposit simultaneously of
the fine gold and the alloy. Then again, the
surface of the chain may have been in such
condition (roughened) as to materially change
the character of the deposit upon it. The
results of the combinations of invisible and
unknown conditions are so uncertain as to
defy any positive directions in any given case.
A. M. B., Ioivi. — Marion is only fifteen
minutes from Maiden Lane — lying at the
west side of Jersey City. Yes ; the Watch
Factory is like the engraving on the last page
of the Journal, though you cannot get a cor-
rect idea of its beauty from any drawing.
The main building is 253 feet in length, three
stories in height, besides the basement, and
is built entirely of iron and glass — light and
ventilati on being primary considerations in
its construction. "We cannot give you a
detailed description of the machinery, as that
would occupy several complete Nos. of the
Journal, but when you come to the city we will
endeavor to show you the practical details of
manufacturing watches by machinery. Your
third query we have no hesitation in answer-
ing in the affirmative, fully believing that the
United States Watch Company have produced
movements fully equal to any made in the
country. The prices of their movements are
all the way from $8.75 to $300, embracing
sixty-four qualities.
"Damaskeening" is simply an improved
method of finishing nickel, by the aid of ma-
chinery, whereby its beauty is not only
greatly enhanced, but entirely overcomes the
principal objection to the use of that metal
for watch movements — that of tarnishing.
This process is so far a secret with this Com-
pany.
Having replied to your questions, permit
us to say a word of encouragement to the
young men who are just commencing in life.
Mr. F. A. Giles, the President of the United
States Watch Company, as well as the head
of the house of Giles, Wales and Co., is a
living evidence of the fact that honesty and
fair dealing, coupled with energy and frugal-
ity, are a much surer guarantee of success in
life than inherited wealth. Having been left
an orphan at an early age, and being the
eldest of a family of children, he was not only
dependent upon his own exertions for self-
support, but contributed largely to the sup-
port of the rest of the family ; and it is to this
very fortuitous circumstance that he owes the
development of those traits of character —
that indomitable energy and perseverance —
that is the sole secret of his success as a busi-
ness man. And Mr. Giles is but a type of a
class of men who are to-day ruling the desti-
nies of the world, as statesmen and men of
business, and who are in the fullest sense of
the word self-made men.
Mr. Wales, the head of the salesroom of
the house of Giles, Wales & Co., is no more
indebted to the influence of powerful friends
than his partner — having won his way to an
enviable position as a business man strictly
on his merits — and never fails to entertain a
kindly feeling for, or to extend a helping
hand to, any deserving young man. As Mr.
Wales never received a dollar of assistance
from any one after he was eight years of age,
we are of opinion that most young men have
as good a starting-point in life as he had.
And, while on this subject, we will instance
another case — that of Mr. C. L. Krugler, of
the firm of Quinche & Krugler, 15 Maiden
Lane, who commenced his mercantile career
as a peripatetic vender of matches — and
although he is now an importer of watches,
never blushes at the mention of his modest
start in life.
An Apprentice wants to know the proper
height for a work-bench ; says his master
puts him at one so high as to make his shoul-
ders ache.
We incline to the opinion that his master
is correct. Of course we don't know exactly
the feet and. inches that the lad is, or the
bench should be ; but have found this rule
about correct: Any stick, the size of a cane
for example, held under the arm, and paral-
lel with the floor, as close up under the shoul-
der as possible, the arm being held down by
the side, should just clear the top of the
72
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
bench vise ; the same rule to apply whether
working at a standing or sitting bench. The
pernicious tendency of young persons is to
work at a bench too low down, thereby in-
ducing in themselves a stoop of the shoul-
ders, injurious to health, and symmetry ; to
health, because the lungs — the very citadel
of life — are cramped, and restricted in their
muscular action (analogous to the opening
and shutting of a bellows); and to symmetry,
because a round-shouldered, hump-backed
man is not "in the image of his maker."
Every young man should know, or be taught,
that when the arms are elevated so as to be
on a line with the shoulders, the shoulders
themselves are thrown back, the chest is free
from side pressure, the lungs can be fully in-
flated, the head maintain a natural position,
even where the eye-glass is in use, and the
spinal column (back bone) is quite upright;
which, by the way, is a very important thing
to be remembered. The position a person
assumes, who has to sit all day, and day
after day, is of the greatest moment as re-
gards their comfort and ease. No position
is more fatiguing than the "bow-backed."
With the back straight up and down — or,
mathematically expressed, the weight direct-
ly over the base — is the easiest, most grace-
ful, and healthiest position, and should be
acquired by all. At first it may be a little
irksome, but persevere, and you will reap the
benefit during your whole lifetime.
E. C, S., N. J. — For information in regard
to London Horological Journal, address Secre-
tary of British Horological Institute, London.
B@„» We are very anxious for a few copies
of Nos. 4 and 5, Vol. I, of the Horological
Journal, and will pay a liberal price for them.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
O - IB. MILLER,
229 Broadway, JT. T.,
At $3.50 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from, reliable Houses, will be
received.
fi>§P°> Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Sjuare, E. G, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
A'l communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box GTlo, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For September, 1870.
X
Sidereal
<x>
Time
Equation
Sidereal
&
of
of
Equation
Time
a
t»ay
tha S3mi-
Time to be
of
for
One
Hour.
or
of
diameter
Subtracted
Time to be
Right
v.
Mori.
Passing
from
Added to
Ascension
>>
the
Apparent
Mean Time.
of
P
Meridian.
Time.
Mean Sun.
s.
M. s.
M. s. s.
H. M. s.
Th.
1
64 41
0 6.10
0 6.11 ! 0.782
10 41 47.28
Fri
2
64.37
0 25.00
0 25 01 0.794
10 45 43.83
Sat
3
64.33
0 44.19
0 44.21 0.806
10 49 40.38
Rn.
4
64 29
1 3.67
1 3.70 0.817
10 53 36.94
M
5
64.26
1 23.42
1 23.44 0.828
10 57 33.49
Tn.
6
64.23
1 43 40
1 43 42 0.838
11 1 30.04
W
7
64 20
2 3 60
2 3.63 0.847
11 5 26.60
Th.
8
64 17
2 24 01
2 24 04 0.855
11 9 23.15
Fri
9
64.15
2 44.59
2 44.62 0.862
11 13 19.70
Sit
10
64.13
3 5 32
3 5.35 0.868
11 17 16.25
Sn.
11
64.11
3 26.18
3 26 23 0.873
11 21 12.81
M
12
64.09
3 47.14
3 47.20 0.877
11 25 9.36
Tn
13
64 08
4 8.1*
4 8.26 0.880
11 29 5.91
W
14
64 07
4 29.31
4 29.38 0.882
11 33 2.46
Th
15
64.07
4 50.48
4 50.56V 0.885
11 36 59.02
Fri
16
64 06
5 11 66
5 11 74 0.883
11 40 55.57
Sat
17
64.06
5 32.84
5 32.92 0.883
11 44 52.12
Sn.
18
64 06
5 53 99
5 54 08 0.882
11 48 48.67
M
19
64.07
6 15.10
6 15.20 0.880
11 52 45.22
Tn
•2(i
64.08
6 36 16
6 36.27 0.877
11 56 41.78
W.
21
64 09
6 57.13
6 57.24 0 873
12 0 38.33
Th
22
64.10
7 18.01
7 18.12 0.868
12 4 34.88
Fri
23
64 12
7 3^.79
7 38.90 0.863
12 8 31.44
Sit
24
64.14
7 59.42
7 59.53 , 0.857
12 12 27.99
Sn
25
64.16
8 19.89
8 20.01 1 0.851
12 16 24.54
M
26
64.19
8 40.21
8 40.33 0.844
12 20 21.09
Tn
27
64 . 22
9 0 34
9 0.47 0.836
12 24 17.65
W
28
64.25
9 20.27
9 20.40 , 0.827
12 28 14.20
Th
29
64.28
9 40.00
9 40.13 0.818
12 32 10.75
Fri.
30
01.32
9 59.49
9 59.62 [ 0.808
1
12 36 7.30
Mean time of the SemidiamHer pissing may be found by sub-
tract ig 0.18 s. from the siiereal tiau.
The S8mldiamet3r for m^an neon may be assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D II. M.
J First Quarter 2 1 57.9
@ FnllMwn 9 10 11.6
( Last Quarter 17 13 29.9
% New Moon 24 18 31.0
D. H.
( Apogee 14 7.0
( Perigee 26 79
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 . 1
h. M. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29.05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT /PPAKE>"T MERID.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAGE .
D. H. M. S. 0 / „ H. M.
Venus 1 9 7 9.82 .. .+17 12 11.2 22 26.3
Jupiter... 1 5 31 52.46.... +22 43 38.1 18 47.4
Saturn... 1 17 25 13.15. ... -22 750.8 6 42.3
AMERICAN
Vol. II.
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1870.
No. 4.
CONTENTS.
Practical Education, 73
A Suggestion to Watch Manufacturers, ... 76
Taktn-g ix Woke, 77
Heat, 78
Explanation of Astronomical Teems relating to
Time, 81
The Leyer Escapement, 83
Dialing, 87
Patience, 92
Gaelic Juice vs. Magnetism, 93
N. Y. Watch Co., 93
Staking Tools, 94
Answers to Correspondents, 9-1
Equation of Time Table, 96
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Room 19.
PEACTICAL EDUCATION.
In the infancy of the world, knowledge was
rare; in its youth, it was a " dangerous thing."
Wise men were few, and fewer the sages who
held even one of Nature's hidden laws. The
Alchemist — regarded almost as a wizard —
concealed carefully his discoveries from the
public gaze. He pursued but one object — the
conversion of the base into precious metals ;
hence every occurrence which he deemed
irrelevant to his purpose was entirely ne-
glected, or foolishly philosophized upon. He
sought to teach Nature, rather than follow her
gui dings; therefore it cannot surprise us that,
under his auspices, science made little prog-
ress. Now, as a Chemist, he proclaims to
the world the results of his profoundest re-
search— gaining increased power and influ-
ence from this diffusion of knowledge.
The skilful artisan is no longer made
famous by the few specimens of his work,
laboriously wrought in secret by his own hand,
lest others, seeing, should appropriate the
results of his arduous thought; but he speaks
to all peoples by the creation of great factories,
and the numberless specimens of his craft
produced by these his mighty servitors. By
lectures he teaches the parents ; in schools he
instructs the children ; through the press he
informs the world ; and by these means he
gains wealth and influence, and thus knowl-
edge becomes power. In the rudimental con-
dition of art or science, isolated facts — some-
times the result of accident, but oftener of
systematic observation — are the first rays
which penetrate the gloom obscuring them.
Systematic classification of these facts are the
tints of dawn which brighten the Eastern sky.
Then some master mind breathes on this
cumulous mist — the clouds disperse, and there
bursts upon the world the glorious sunlight
of a new science.
Let us glance at the developments of Teres-
trial Magnetism. At first iron alone, in its
various forms, was considered magnetic ; and
nothing beside was thought susceptible to its
influence. Soon it was seen that other sub-
stances were acted upon, though in different
ways. These were called dia-magnetics. A
heavy bar of solid glass, which is eminently
dia -magnetic, being suspended, moving freely
between the poles of a horse-shoe magnet
(called a magnetic field), gradually assumes a
position at right angles to the current passing
through the field. Being replaced, it again
assumes the same position, showing an op-
posite action to a magnetic substance under
the same circumstances. Other experiments
on solids and liquids, as well as on all the
known gases, pointed unerringly to the law
that all substances are either magnetic or dia-
magnetic. The particles of a magnetic body
are attracted to, while those of dia-magnetic
are repelled from, each other ; and these
peculiarities are retained by each substance
in all conditions and combinations. The
action of any compound under magnetic in-
fluence is exactly in accordance with the pre-
ponderating substance. Thus water (dia-
magnetic), holding a solution of iron (magne-
tic), assumes position in the magnetic field in
accordance with the strength of the solution;
74
AMERICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
being magnetic, if the iron preponderates ; or
dia-magnetic, if the water exceeds.
The mechanical arts and the science of
mechanics are no exception to the same cu-
mulative growth. Philosophers did not dis-
cover the lever, the wheel, the wedge ; poor
ignorant laborers were the first discoverers —
their necessities were the mother of their in-
ventions; these powers, in some s:mple form,
were daiJy used, and their prodigious effects
noticed, and their use spread frcm
hand to hand; new adaptations multiplied;
facts regarding their application were remem-
bered; certain re ations were noticed to pro-
duce invariably certain effects. At length
these effects were generalized and arranged ;
and at once the law, certain and clear as the
sunlight, was deduced. Experiment became
the foundation — fact the superstructure
theory, only the scaffolding of the perfected
temple. As soon as the system was adopted
of tracing causes from their effects, experi-
mental science advanced with rapid strides.
From its lofty abode in the time of Coperni-
cus and Galileo, it has since descended and
become the household god of all in our land ;
the cause of the conveniences and comforts
of our existence. Had the first man who
moved a stone more ponderous than himself,
by means of a lever, concealed from his fellows
the means by which he accomplished it, who
can say how long the world might have
remained in ignorance of the complete sci-
ence of mechanics ?
So it may be with our own craft, if each
gives to the world the facts gathered b}r him-
self ; though they be in themselves insignifi-
cant, yet their accumulation from all sources,
and all pointing in one direction, may lead to
the discovery of a valuable law. For example,
suppose every watchmaker were to observe
carefully when, how, and under what circum-
stances every mainspring was broken that
came under his observation. Whether at the
time the temperature of the weather was hot
or cold ; was the condition of the atmos-
phere unusually electrical or otherwise —
cloudy or clear ; was the wind from the
north, scuth, east, or west ; the moon full, or
at first or last quarter ; day or night ; wet or
Cvj ; the height of the barometer ; was the
spring in motion or at rest ; coiling or un-
coiling ; was it oiled much, little, or not at
all ; was it tempered blue or yellow ; had it
been long in use, or was it new ; was the user
in health, or ill ; in anger, or at ease ; his
habits active, or sedentary ; and a hundred
other little facts gathered in various sections
and in various countries. Who can say that
from some such aggregation a law might not
be deduced by which we might determine
what now no man pretends to know — namely,
why a mainspring breaks ?
By the systematic observation of facts
of any kind, and the fullest diffusion of
them among those who are interested, no one
knows how soon the accumulated mass may
be seized by some master hand and moulded
into form.
Although, in order to be a practical work-
man, it is not necessary to tread the stately
measures of Euripides — with Horace, to cele-
brate the beauteous Roman dames, or with
Juvenal, to " shoot folly as it flies" — yet,
while we are endowed with a higher nature
— with understanding as well as senses — with
faculties more exalted, and enjoyments more
refined than any to which the bodily frame can
minister — let us pursue such gratifications ra-
ther than those of mere sense, fulfilling thus the
most exalted ends of our creation, and obtain-
ing a present and future reward. Let us mark
the practical applications of science (which in
its most comprehensive sense means knowledge
reduced to a system) to the occupations and
enjoyments of all, beginning with the greatest
portion of every community, the working
classes.
The first object of every one depending
on his own exertions is to provide for his
daily wants, for this includes his most sacred
duties to himself, his kindred, and his country.
Though in performing it he is influenced by
his necessities or interests, yet it renders him
the truest benefactor of his community. The
hours devoted to learning must be after the
work is done, for independence requires first
a maintenance for himself and those depend-
ing on him, ere he earns the right to any in-
dulgence. The progress made in science
helps every trade or occupation. Its neces-
sity to the liberal professions is self evident,
but other departments of industry derive
hardly less benefit from the same source. To
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
75
how many kinds of workmen is a knowledge
of mechanical philosophy necessary ? To how
many others does chemistry prove useful ?
To engineers, watchmakers, instrument-mak-
ers, a ad bleachers, these sciences are essential.
Are those who work in various metals the
less skilful for knowing their nature, their
relations both to heat and other metals, and
to the gases and liquids with which they
come in contact ? If a lesson be learned by
rote, the least change of circumstances puts
one out. Cases will always arise where a
rule must be varied to apply ; so if the work-
man only knows the rule, without the reason,
he will be at fault when required to make a
new application of it. Another use of such
knowledge is, that it gives every man a chance,
according to his talents, of becoming an im-
prover of his art or trade, or even a discoverer
in the sciences connected with it. He daily
handles the tools or materials with which new
experiments are to be made — daily sees the
operations of Nature in the motions and pres-
sure of bodies, or their actions on each other ;
and his chances are much greater, apply-
ing his knowledge to new and useful ideas, to
see what is amiss in the old methods, and,
taking advantage of it, improve and renew
them, and he may make discoveries which may
directly benefit himself and mankind. To
pass our time in the study of science, to learn
what others have discovered, and to extend
the bounds of human knowledge, has, in all
ages, been called the happiest of human
occupations. But it is not necessary a man
should do nothing but study known truths,
and explore new, to earn the title of philos-
opher, or lover of wisdom. Some of our
greatest man have been engaged in the pur-
suits of active life. An earnest devotion of
the most of our time to the woi'k our condition
requires, is a duty, and indicates the possession
of practical wisdom. He who, wherever his
lot may be cast, performs his daily task and
improves his mind in the evening, richly de-
serves the name of a true philosopher. It is
no mean reward to become acquainted with
the prodigious genius of those who have
almost exalted the nature of man above this
sphere, and to discover how it comes to pass
. "by universal consent, they hold a sta-
tion apart, rising over all great teachers of
mankind, and named reverently, as if New-
ton and Laplace were not the names of mortal
men." By means of the laws of gravitation
and the movements and changes of the celes-
tial bodies, we have taken " note of time," if
only b}^ its flight.
In diffusing valuable information it is by
no means necessary that a person should be
learned, or even educated ; if they have some
complete idea, well thought out before they
attempt to utter it, there need be no fear of
failing in expression ; for this thinking has
been done in language, and the expression of
the idea is only thinking aloud. Education
is desirable ; every species of knowledge is of
service, and our hope for the future is to have
it attainable by all. By education we do not
mean a classical education ; in fact we fully
believe it a waste of time and money in a
person who does not intend to make litera-
ture his profession. We believe that every
man's education should have direct reference
to the occupation he chooses, or that is chosen
for him, and that all the mental discipline he
wishes to undergo should be in the line of
that profession. The study of the classics to
a mechanic are a waste of mental energy. An
equal amount of mental training can be had
by studies bearing directly on his business.
The whole line of mathematical studies are
eminently calculated to discipline, the mind,
foster deep thinking, and cultivate the most
rigid exactness in diction as well as thought,
and every acquirement in that branch is a
direct stepping-stone to the attainment of
eminence in any mechanical calling.
Three words comprise all that is necessary
for a mechanical education, viz., reading, writ-
ing, and arithmetic. Beading being the means
of acquirement of every species of general in-
formation from all accessible sources ; Writ-
ing, the correct use of language by carefully
studying the best examples within our reach,
and Arithmetic embraces the whole course of
mathematical studies. A large proportion of
the time spent by collegiate students is lost
— or at least the benefits derived are very in-
direct, if not questionable. How many grad-
uates can be found who know or care a straw
for Plato, or iEsckylus, or what do they re-
member of Horace, except a few stale quota-
tions ? Indiscriminate classical must, sooner
76
AMERICAN HOROLOOICAL JOURNAL.
or later, give place to technological education.
No man's life being long enough to acquire all
knowledge, the consequence will be, devotion
to particular branches of learning. " To that
complexion must we come at last," and the
sooner we set ourselves about organizing the
proper means to secure such desirable results,
the better.
We trust the day is not far distant when
the colleges of the past will give place to
technological institutes whose efforts will
be mainly in the direct education of its stu-
dents in the practical pursuits of life, rather
than a devotion of their energies to the
study of the dead languages. The mental
discipline is fully as severe in the one case as
the other, and in technological education it
leads to practical results. In short, the truths
of modern science, and a familiarity with
mechanical principles, are of much greater
importance to-day, than a familiar knowledge
of the loves, and intrigues, and warfare of all
the heroes of the past ages.
"Why can we not have Horological Institutes
as well as Medical'? and have "Anxtomical
Lectures before the class," with " free clinics
every Friday, and treatment of the poor
(watches) gratis ? " a " Museum of Morbid
Anatomy" (subjects are plenty), "Chemical
and Philosophical Experiments," " Illustra-
tion of the use of Instruments " (tools), call
our best workmen " Professors," and our ap-
prentices " Students," have "Theses" read on
various subjects, grant "Diplomas," and class
Horologists among the liberal professions ?
A SUGGESTION TO WATCH MANUFACTURERS.
o-
tf@„» "We confidently expect to be able to
present to our readers, next month, an article
from Mr. Grossniann. In his letter of June
23d, he proposed to forward the next week,
drawings of his Mercurial Pendulum ; but it
failed to come to hand, which is probably
attributable to the fact that, in consequence
of the war between Prussia and France, the
mail service with all the German States has
beeu very much deranged. Undoubtedly he
will also, in reply to " Clyde," in the Au-
gust No., support the propositions laid down
in his former article on the Mercurial Pen-
dulum.
The growing popularity of American
watches with the watch-carrying public —
thereby rendering it incumbent upon all
dealers to make them a part of their stock —
is raising the question among the most in-
telligent workmen as to which of the various
manufacturers really produce the most reli-
able time-piece ; and which one he can con-
scientiously, and with the most interest to
himself, recommend to his customers. By
"interest to himself," we do not mean the
watch on which he makes the most immedi-
ate profit. The most important consideration
to the thoroughly practical mechanic who
takes a pride in giving to his customer the
nearest possible approach to mechanical per-
fection in the time-piece he sells him, is, what
watch will give the best results in that direc-
tion, and give to him the best reputation as
a dealer.
To watchmakers, certificates, even from
eminent men, prove very little, as, from the
very nature of the case, the testimony of the
wearer of a watch is confined to a single one,
and all the certificates any manufacturer
publishes must necessarily bear a very small
proportion to the entire number manufac-
tured. Besides, few, if any, have the means
of making correct comparisons, even had
they the disposition to do so. The compari-
son of a watch to-day with any standard
authority, and a comparison with the same
authority at the expiration of twelve months,
and showing very good results, proves noth-
ing ; for possibly there might not have been
any period in the intervening time when the
comparison would have resulted so favorably.
A comparison of rates with the best chro-
nometers or regulators at the command of
the watchmaker is eminently satisfactory,
but they are not infallible ; in fact, they in-
variably have a daily rate of gain or loss, and
frequently errors, either concealed from the
public, or not. known to the watchmaker him-
self, and nothing short of a frequent observa-
tion of the heavenly bodies will give a reli-
able indication of the real performance of the
watch.
Again, one watch selected from a hundred
may give results bordering on the marvellous,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
77
and still the other ninety-nine be very indif-
ferent time-keepers ; the average performance,
perhaps, being much below the same number
of another maker, who, on a single watch,
could not show as high a degree of perfec-
tion as his competitor.
The highly creditable display of American
watches, now on exhibition at the Fair of the
American Institute in this city, is well de-
signed to add to the growing interest felt in
this branch of national industry; but it occurs
to us that something more than the mere
display and extensive advertisement of goods
is required; and that is, that competitive trials,
in some form, should be instituted. Just nowT
su'di trials should be conducted so as not
oidy to secure an honest verdict, but at the
same time satisfy the public of the thorough-
ness and practical nature of the tests. It may
not be easy to fully prescribe the details, but
as tending in that direction we make these
suggestions :
1. It should, of course, be a condition that
the watches entered were entirely of Ameri-
can manufacture.
2. It would be manifestly unfair that
watches that merely chance to possess re-
markable properties should be selected from
a large number, and which were not a fair
sample of the average manufacture ; for then
the advantage would be with the largest pro-
ducer. A definite number only on the part
of each maker should be entered, and these
numbered in rotation before springing — none
being duplicates of other numbers. Or, per-
haps it would be better to dispense with these
conditions by presenting a certain number on
the part of each maker, from which a random
selection should be made by the appointed
judges.
Of course the watches of the different
makers should be of the same price, and
might include all the grades that could fairly
enter into competition from each of the fac-
tories. The object being to determine who
places the most reliable time-piece on the
market, it would be manifestly proper that
they should be taken as they are offered to
the public, and not as they might be gotten
up for a competitive trial. On watches
prepared for trial, it would be expected
each maker would bestow the highest
skill in adjusting, even though it should
considerably raise them above the average
character.
The comparative trials might include tests
for iuochronisin, position, and temperature,
and even be exposed to carriage on a railroad,
as the final test of all watches is that of ordi-
nary wear; but it would be impracticable, and
even unfair in a public test to attempt this
mode of testing, as they would hardly receive
uniform treatment ; but a test protracted
through many weeks might be made ; the
watches to be exposed to variation of position
and temperature, without noting the effect
of each change, each receiving the same
treatment, and the changes being simul-
taneous. No account of the smallnesa
of the rate should be taken, but only the
uniformity of rate; the amount of rate
being a mere matter of regulation, and
having no bearing on the perfection of ad-
justment.
"We hope the day is not far distant when
some one of the American watch companies,
confident of a higher average of excellence
in time-keeping than any others, will throw
down the gauntlet in the form of a challenge
to all, to enter the tests in a public trial.
No higher honor than ' the victory in such a
contest could be desired. Nothing would
so speedily educate the public up to a taste
for fine time-keepers. Nothing could so
stimulate the artisan in the attainment of the
highest skill in accurate adjusting, for there
would be a wider demand for such labor,
and under such a system of competitive
trials we should see the name of an Ameri-
can watch becoming the synonym of per-
fection in time-keeping.
TAKING IN WORK
Editoe Hoeological Journal :
I will tell you how I take in work and de-
fend myself from the anathemas showered on
many of the craft.
In taking in a watch I always request my
customer to call in at a certain time, and I
will let him know what his watch needs to
have done to it, as the universal remedy
78
AMERICAN HOROLOOICAL JOURNAL.
(cleaning) is not always a specific cure for the
evil of stopping.
I examine a watch in this way as I take it
clown : 1st, I see whether the cap jewels are
well fitted ; try the end shake of the balance
staff; note the length of the lever; try the
banking, and examine the fork and roller
jewel ; then I take out the balance, see
whether the roller jewel is firmly set, and the
edge of the roller smooth, examine the piv-
ots, take off the hair spring, and try the poise
of the balance. I now find out about the
locking, slide and drop of the pallets ; after
that I let down the spring, take out the pal-
lets and barrel, take out the mainspring, and
put the barrel back, to see whether all the
train i3 free ; examine the dep thing and side
and end-shakes, then take down the train,
having a small block to put my screws in to
avoid getting them mixed ; then examine the
pivots, and try the jewels to see whether they
are firmly set, and the holes true and perfect.
If a solid ratchet, see that it is solid and well
fitted, see how the spring is adapted, and
tlat the stop-work performs well, and that
the dial wheels are all right. I try them
when I first take off the dial.
Now, for whatever I find to be done, I
have a regular price, and I charge for it. If
the customer will not have the watch put in
order, then, of ccurse, I will not warrant it.
There are comparatively few but what have
their watches put in order, and most of those
who do not will get the best done they can,
and have it run ; and those who will not
have anything done I charge, as some M. D.'s
do, for the examination. In cleaning, I wash
in warm water and Castile soap, using a fine
brush, rinse in alcohol, and dry in fine box-
wood sawdust. Of course all the false plates
are stripped so that the dust can be removed
with a fine brush. The train I wash simply
in alcohol, and dry it off before I put the
plates in the sawdust, to avoid the danger of
breaking the pivots. In this way I find out
all the defects of the watch, and take nothing
for granted, and I am sure it pa}rs me. I
test my alcohol by putting in a piece of pol-
ished steel, and if it does not Change the color
of it, it answers my purpose.
J. H. L.
Concord, N. R.
HEAT.
NUMBER THREE.
LATENT OR SPECIFIC HEAT- — TRANSMISSION OF
HEAT BY CONDUCTION, BY CONVECTION, BY RA-
DIATION- FAMILIAR EXAMPLES, ETC.
When two different bodies are exposed to
heat, under exactly the same circumstances,
both will finally reach the same tempera-
ture ; but one of them will always take a
longer time in doing so than the other.
Thus, if two similar and equal vessels, one
containing mercury, the other water, be
placed on the same stove, the mercury will
be raised to 212° before the water boils ; and
yet the mercury, if of equal bulk with the
water, is more than 13| times as heavy, and
might have been expected to have taken 13|
times as long to reach the same temperature.
It is obvious, therefore, that all the heat
which was received by the water has not ap-
peared in a sensible form, and it is also pos-
sible that all received by the mercury is not
sensible.
"When a solid is converted into a liquid, or
a liquid into an elastic fluid, the conversion
is brought about suddenly. The substance
•in question, before changing its state, con-
tinues to receive heat, is expanded to a cer-
tain degree, and has its temperature raised ;
but if an additional quantity of heat be still
given to it, the expansion no longer goes on
in the same manner, and the temperature is
no longer elevated, but it assumes a new
form, becoming, according to circumstances,
either a liquid or a vapor. It was formerly
supposed that this change did not depend
upon any peculiar or specific action, but that
the mere addition of a certain small portion
of heat was adequate to effect it. Dr. Black,
a celebrated Scottish Professor of Natural
Philosophy, and the friend and adviser of
James "Watt, perceived the insufficiency of
the opinion usually entertained on the sub-
ject, and was induced to investigate it with
great assiduity ; the result of which was to
establish his celebrated theory of latent heat.
It would carry us far beyond our prescribed
limits were we to give an account of the
experiments which were performed by Dr.
Black for the purpose of establishing his
theory, which is generally accepted. The
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
79
fundamental position of the theory is, " that
when a solid is converted into a liquid, or
a liquid into a gas, a much greater quan-
tity of heat is absorbed by it than is percep-
tible by the sensation, or the thermometer,
the effect of which is to unite with the par-
tides of the body, and thus to alter its form.
When, to the contrary, the vapor is reduced
to the state of a liquid, or a liquid to that of
a solid, heat is disengaged from it without
the subject in question indicating any diminu-
q of temperature, either to the sensation, or
to the thermometer."' Although we cannot
determine the number of degrees, by any
thermometer, that will become latent, the
capacities of bodies to contain it are deter-
mined by taking one of them as a standard.
Water is generally used for this purpose,
and the capacities of most metals for latent
heat are represented by the following
figures :
Bismuth 0.0288 Zir.c 0.0927
0.0293 Copper 0.0919
Mercury 0.0290 Nickel 0.1035
Gold... 0.0298 Iron 0 1100
Platinum 0.0314 Cobalt 0.1498
Tin 0.0514 Sulphur 0.1880
Silver 0.0557 Water 1.0000
The capacity of bodies for latent heat may
be changed by mechanical means. The capa-
cities of atmospheric air and gases are acted
upon in this manner. Thus, if we force a
>n into a syringe, and a piece of timber be
1 on the piston, it will be set on fire. In-
flammable mixtures of gases will be exploded
by the same instrument, and some are said
to be heated to such a degree as to become
luminous. Air rushing from a vessel in which
it has been condensed, will produce a degree
of cold sufficient not only to convert the
>r with which the air is mixed into water,
bat to freeze it into the form of a ball. In
tmosphere of the earth, those portions
of it which are nearest the level of the sea
are compressed by the weight of those above
them ; they have, therefore, a small capacity
I itent heat, and their temperature is
higher than that of the air in higher regions,
when the pressure being less, the capacity for
latent heat is greater. We may thus account
for the great cold experienced on rising in a
balloon, and on the tops of lofty mountains,
which, even when the sun is vertical, are
covered with perpetual snow.
Heat tends to diffuse itself equally among
bodies of different temperature ; so strong is
this tendency, that, unless fresh supplies are
received, the hottest bodies soon become cool,
in consequence of parting with their heat to
surrounding bodies cooler than themselves.
The cause of this tendency of heat to fly off
from bodies, or to pass from one to another,
and thus diffuse itself among them, is attribr
uted to its possessing an inherent repulsive
force. The particles of all kinds of pondera-
ble matter are necessarily attracted to each
other, unless some counteracting cause pre-
vents their union. This is equally exempli-
fied in the attraction which prevails between
large masses of matter, by which the planets
are kept in their orbits, called the attraction
of gravitation, and the attraction which ex-
ists between the indivisible particles of mat-
ter, and which influences many of the minute
operations of nature under the denomination
of chemical attraction. The repulsive power
which appears to be an inherent quality of
heat, may be regarded, in general, as the cause
of its diffusion among bodies. This equal dis-
tribution of heat, as it has been called by some
writers, or the equilibrium of caloric, as has
been styled by others, has been the subject of
much observation and experiment, and has
also given rise to much hypothetical discus-
sion, which we will not dwell on, but pro-
ceed to give the generally accepted modes
by which heat seeks to attain this equilibrium
of temperature.
When heat passes from one particle of a
solid substance to another, it is said to be
conveyed by conduction. Suppose we pick up
a piece of metal when the atmosphere sur-
rounding it is of an ordinary temperature,
we feel it to be a hard and heavy body, but
it neither warms nor chills us ; the tempera-
ture of the metal on the one hand, and our
sensations on the other, remain unchanged ;
but if we place one end of the metal to some
source of heat, the particles of the metal
nearest to that source become violently agi-
tated, the swinging atoms strike their neigh-
bors and expand their distance apart, which
finally reach our hand and cause the sensation
known as hea t; but although a familiar ex-
80
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
ample, it must not be understood to be, in all
cases, a ted of temperature, or the quantity of
beat that exists in bodies. To prove tbis, ar-
range tbree bowls, containing water at 32°,
90°, and 150°, respectively. Dip the two
hands into the first and third bowls, and
then at the same instant into the centre
bowl, containing the water at 90°; to the one
hand it will feel cold, to the other wTarm.
When heat is conducted through bodies, it
does not flash through them instantaneously
like electricity, but passes successively from
particle to particle, requiring an appreciable
time for the passage. It passes through
bodies with different degrees of rapidity,
some permitting it to pass through them quite
rapidly, others only very slowly, and others
almost entirely intercept its passage. The
imperfect conducting power of snow, for in-
stance, arises in a great measure from the
above cause. When newly fallen, a great
portion of its bulk consists of the air which
it contains, as may be readily proved by the
comparatively small quantity of water it pro-
duces when melted. Farmers in cold coun-
tries always lament the absence of snow in
winter, because, as a consequence, the frost
penetrates to a great depth, and does much
injury to the grain sown the previous
autumn. So great is the protecting power of
snow that in Siberia it is said that when the
temperature of the air has been 70° below the
freezing point, that of the earth under the
snow has seldom been colder than 32°, verify-
ing that passage of Scripture which says,
" God giveth snow like wool." It has also
been observed, that the heaving up of the
ground by frost, when protected by snow, is
much less than when it is uncovered and ex-
posed.
Our readers will all be more or less familiar
with instances where, in the back woods of our
own country, travellers having been obliged
to sleep in the open air in the winter, find
themselves m a glow of heat on waking up in
the morning, with several inches of snow over
their water-proof coverings. For the same
reason, many substances which in the solid
state are quite good conductors of heat, when
reduced to powder are very poor conductors.
Thus, rock crystal is a better conductor than
bismuth or lead ; but if the crystal be ren-
dered to powder it becomes a very poor con-
ductor indeed. Rock salt, when in the solid
state, allows heat to pass through it with great
facility, but table salt, in fine powder, ob-
structs its passage almost entirely. Sawdust
powerfully compressed allows heat to pass
through it with the same facility as solid wood
of the same kind, but when loose and uncon-
fined it is one of the poorest conductors
known. Sand is an excellent non-conductor,
and is often placed beneath the hearths of
fire-places to guard against accidental fire.
At the siege of Gibraltar, the red hot balls
fired by the British, were carried from the
furnaces to the guns in wooden wheel-bar-
rows, protected only by a thin covering of
sand. Near the summit of Mount iEtna, ice
has been discovered beneath currents of
lava which had flowed over it when in a liquid
state, which was only protected from melting
by a thin layer of volcanic sand. The ice
gatherers of the same mountain export their
ice to Malta, and distribute it through Sicily,
protected by envelopes of coarse straw mat-
ting ; and ice is conveyed from our own coun-
try to the most distant parts of the earth
packed in straw, sawdust, or shavings. Asbes-
tos, a fibrous mineral substance, is woven into
an incombustible cloth of such poor conduct-
ing power, that red hot iron may be handled
with gloves made of it. Glass is another
poor conductor of heat ; so poor is it that a
large red hot molten mass of it may be ladled
into cold water and the interior remain visibly
red hot for several hours.
Heat is conveyed through all liquids and
gases by a change of place among the parti-
cles. These particles are transferred in
whole masses from place to place, and
convey the heat along with them, and is
called convection, in contradistinction to the
process of conduction, just now described. If
any fluid body be heated from beneath, the
part which receives the heat first becomes
specifically lighter than the rest of the liquid ;
this part will therefore rise to the surface,
and its place is supplied by the denser part
of the liquid. A continual current of the
colder liquid from the surface, and the heated
liquid from beneath, will thus be formed.
This current may be rendered sensible as
follows : Place water in a transparent vessel,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
81
and put a little powdered amber into it, which
has almost the same density as water. On
applying a lamp to the bottom of the vessel,
the powdered amber will be seen to circulate
with the water, and thus exhibit the nature
and direction of the currents ; while on being
allowed to cool, the process is reversed. In
summer, when there is no breeze, we feel
oppressively warm, because the air does not
carry off the heat generated within us. Fan-
ning cools us, because it carries off the air
heated by contact with our bodies. In this
case it will be seen that it is carried off by
con vsction and not by conduction. The exist-
enca of currents produced by convection is
seen on a grand scale in nature in the exist-
ence of trade winds, the Gulf Stream, and
other ocean currents. The air and the water
in both cases are not heated from the direct
rays of the sun, as will be explained in the
next paragraph.
A body not in contact with the source of heat
cannot be heated by conduction or convection,
and if it receives heat at all it is by a third pro-
cess, called radiation. All substances radiate
and absorb heat, but not equally well ; much
depends on the character of their surfaces.
TYhen radient heat falls upon bodies it is
either absorbed (in which case it raises its
temperature), or it is reflected or turned back
towards its source, or it is refracted or bent
out of its original straight course, which oc-
curs only when it falls at an angle less than
a right angle, upon some medium which it is
capable of traversing ; or it is transmitted or
passed through unchanged when it falls per-
pendicular upon some medium capable of
transmitting it, although this rarely takes
place without more or less absorption. Ra-
dient heat does not affect the temperature of
the media through which it passes. A hot
stove sends forth rays of heat in every direc-
tion, that pass through the air without heat-
ing it, but raise the temperature of all bodies
upon which they strike. In like manner the
earth is warmed by rays which emanate from
the sun, and have passed through the air
without raising its temperature.
Many other interesting phenomena might
be mentioned in connection with the radia-
tion of heat ; but having given our readers a
condensed dissertation on heat and its modes
of transmission, which, with a little reflection,
will enable them to form an intelligent com-
prehension of some of nature's grandest laws,
we will, in our next number, proceed with a
detailed description of the practical effects of
heat, interesting to young and old, to the
merchant and to the mechanic.
EXPLANATION OF ASTRONOMICAL 1EMS
RELATING TO TIME.
It is because there is so much confusion in
the minds of those who have not investigated
the subject of Astronomy, that we are often
met with inquiries relating to the difference
between Apparent and Mean Time, Sidereal
an I Solar days, etc., and we are led to an
explanation of these terms ; not that there is
anything new to be presented, but that, by
" line upon line," certain fundamental facts
in Astronomy may be made more familiar,
and to watchmakers especially, inasmuch as
the subject is intimately connected with their
art. For, it will take but little consideration
to show that while Horology groAvs out of
the demands of Astronomy, the mutual rela-
tion becomes so intimate, and the require-
ments of each so interwoven, that neither can
fulfil its high purpose without being supple-
mented by the material aid furnished by the
other.
Astronomy discovers and defines certain
interval of duration, determined by the
movements of the various members of the
Solar and Stellar systems ; and according as
it accepts one or another of these intervals as
a unit, it measures the length or varying
durations of the others ; and the interval of
duration between a particular epoch and an-
other such is called Time.
The diurnal motion of the earth on its axis
furnishes most readily a basis for the meas-
urement of time, since the exact recurrence of
each complete revolution constitutes a dis-
tinct interval, which we are compelled by our
senses to accept as a unit of measure, because,
as one side or the other of the earth is pre-
sented to the sun, we have the alternations of
light and darkness, which, taken together as
a whole, make what we call a Day. But the
length of the day, or a complete revolution
82
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGIGAL JOURNAL.
of the earth on its axis, depends on how we
measure it ; for, if we do so with reference to
the sun, we shall find it of a certain length of
duration, while if noted with reference to the
stars, it will be quite different. Let us
illustrate this. Suppose we were situated on
the edge of a horizontal revolving disc, and
we notice at one point of our revolution that
two remote objects, lying beyond the circum-
ference of the disc, are in range, one of them
being comparatively near. Imagine a line
drawn from the centre of the revolving disc
through the point we occupy. It is evident
every time we make a complete revolution
we know it by the coincidence of this line
writh the two objects in range. Now, suppose
while this disc is revolving about its own cen-
tre, it also revolves about the nearer of the two
objects, so that while it makes one revolution
about its own axis it moves the 3-1^ part of a
circle around the near object. It will be
equally clear that after one revolution our
imaginary line will not point to both the near
and far objects at the same time ; for when a
complete revolution of the disc is made with
reference to the near object, the farther one
will not be in range, and consequently the
length of the revolution of the disc will differ
accordingly as we refer it to the near or dis-
tant object.
Now, if we transfer this idea to the Solar
system, we shall find the same state of
facts. We shall find the earth moving
from west to east on its axis ; the distant
object will be a fixed star, and the compara-
tively near one the sun. Suppose we set up
a transit instrument in the plane of the meri-
dian so we may know exactly when the sun
or the star, by the revolution of the earth on
its axis, appears to cross the meridian line.
When the earth has made a complete revolu-
tion on its axis, it will also have moved
forward in its orbit about the sun one day's
march, and the same effect will appear as in
the illustration, for the earth will revolve so
as to get the transit instrument in Hue with
the star, earlier than with the sun. We may
remark here that this fact accounts for the
apparent movement of the sun among the
fixed stars ; for although they, from no part
of the earth's oi'bit, present any change in
their relative positions, by reason of their
almost infinite distance, yet, as we revolve
about the sun, that luminary is successively
brought in range with, and appears to tra-
verse the space occupied by the constella-
tions comprising the twelve signs of the
zodiac.
Now, if one revolution of the earth on its
axis constitutes a day, how shall the length of
the day be determined ; with reference to the
sun, about which we revolve, or by reference
to the stars, about which we do not revolve ?
We cannot use both intervals of time as the
same basis of measurement. Astronomers,
therefore, apply different designations to
these unequal intervals, and call that marked
by the successive arrival of a certain point in
the heavens, calleel the first point of Aries, which
is otherwise known as the intersection of the
ecliptic and the equator, at the meridian of
any place, a Sielereal Day, because maele with
reference to the stars ; and that interval
caused by the successive arrival of the sun at
the same merielian a Solar Day, for the
reason that it is determined by the sun. So
also, if the diurnal revolution of the earth be
measured with reference to the moon, it will
be still different, and such an interval would
be known as the Lunar Day. Here we have,
then, three distinct intervals, yet each gener-
ically termed a day.
The Day, then, being a natural unit of
time, may be resolved into any number of
subelivisions for the purpose of expressing
smaller intervals of time ; but custom arbi-
trarily divides it into twenty-four parts, or
hours, and these again into minutes and
seconds, as all understand, while the longer
intervals are expressed in months anel years.
The subdivisions and multiples of the unit
day are referable to the kind of day we take
as the basis of division. Thus, Sidereal Time
is duration expressed with reference to the
Sidereal Day.
It has been found by long continued obser-
vation that the diurnal motion of the earth
on its axis is exactly uniform, if measured
with reference to the fixed stars ; so that the
interval between the successive transits of
any fixed star is always precisely the same
length ; but this interval, or length of the
Sidereal Day, is proved to be shorter than
the Solar Day ; and if the latter be taken as
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
83
the unit, or 24 hours, then the former will
be 23h. 56m. 4s.09 of solar time.
The Day we most naturally fall iuto the use
of is that determined by the revolution of the
earth with respect to the sun, as already ex-
plained, aud is of that length of time that
elapses between the successive presentations
of any point or meridian on the earth to the
sun ; or, as it appears to our senses, the upper
transits of the sun across the meridian of any-
place, and is, therefore, identical with the
day indicated by a correct noon mark, and
is properly described as an Apparent Solar
Day.
When the sun's centre crosses or transits
the meridian of any place, that instant is
called Apparent Xoon, and time reckoned for-
ward from this instant to the return of the
sun on the meridian, is called Apparent or
True Time. And yet it is not the kind of
time we use in civil affairs, or the ordinary
customs of society ; for, owing to the want of
uniformity of the motion of the earth in its
orbit, and to the inclination of the poles of
the earth to the plane of its orbit, an in-
equality arises that causes the successive re-
turn of the instant of apparent noon with
considerable irregularity ; and the construc-
tion and use of a time -piece that would keep
this irregular, or apparent time, would be
inconvenient, if not impossible. So astrono-
mers have devised a kind of time, based on
solar time, in so far as it has the same num-
ber of days in the year, and is represented
by a fictitious or supposed sun having a uni-
form motion, its time, therefore, showing a
regular and ecpiable increase, but each day
of 24 hours being the mean or average of all
the days in the year, and this is denominated
Mean Solar Time. The term Day, expressed
with reference to the movement of the mean
sun, is called a Mean Solar Day. Mean noon
is the instant when this suppositious sun is
on the meridian, apparent noon sometimes
preceding, and at others, succeeding it. The
difference between apparent time and mean
time is called the Equation of Time, and is
given in tabular form, in any nautical almanac,
for every day of the year. By its use we may
convert apparent into mean time, and vice
verm. If the transit of the sun be ob-
served with any instrument designed for
that purpose, but preferably a transit instru-
ment, the immediate result is the finding the
instant of apparent noon by the time-piece
used. By applying the eqration of time to
this result, according as it is additive or sub-
ti active, the instant of mean noon is found,
as shown by the same time-piece; or, in other
words, its error, whether fast or slow.
In the method of reckoning, in ordinary
use, the Civil day begins at midnight, and
reckons forward 12 hours to noon, and
thence 12 hours again, to the next midnight.
The Astronomical day commences at mean
noon, and 12 hours later than the Civil day
of the same date, and its hours count from 1
to 24 continuously, to the succeeding noon.
Thus, Oct., 1 day 18 h., astronomical time,
would correspond to Oct., 2 days 6 h., A. M.,
civil time. In nautical usage, the Sea day
begins at the noon preceding the beginning
of the Civil day of the same date.
THE LEVER ESCAPEMENT.
No portion of the structure of a watch has
so much labor bestowed upon it — receives so
much of the thought and skill of the scientific
and practical horologist — as that portion
comprising the escapement ; for it is this part
of the mechanism of the watch that divides
time into small equal instants, and it cannot
be too perfectly proportioned, nor too care-
fully finished.
There are many varieties of escapements,
but the most important and the most inter-
esting is unquestionably the detached lever
escapement. From its beauty of combination,
the durability of its structure, and the accu-
racy of its performance, it has won the favor
of very nearly all European, and every Ameri-
can manufacturer, and it is to-day the most
popular escapement extant. When well car-
ried out, as to principle and finish, it is sus-
ceptible of excellent time-keeping qualities
(in the ordinary acceptation of the term), and
this, taken in connection with the compara-
tively small cost for which it can be made,
places it far above any other escapement.
The detached lever, as invented by Madge,
in 1751, although differing somewhat from
the present manufacture, has nevertheless
84
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
served as a prototype to all escapements on
the same principle, but differing somewhat in
form. It is not the object of the present
article to furnish a complete treatise on the
lever escapement, as that would occupy more
space than could be allowed in the Journal,
and besides, there are already many very ex-
cellent treatises on the subject, from eminent
horologists ; but the design is to aid those
repairers who are seeking to acquire a knowl-
edge of the principles involved in a good lever
escapement, the better to fit them to make
the necessary repairs, when occasion requires.
From these considerations there will be given
only the two most common forms of this
escapement — the English and the Swiss ; the
difference being principally in the shape of
the tooth of the escape-wheel — the English
using ratchet teeth, and the Swiss club teeth.
This escapement is composed of two dis-
tinct actions, viz. : that of the wheel and pal-
let, and that of the lever and roller. From
this enumeration it will bo seen that the es-
capement consists of four acting parts — wheel,
pallet, lever, and roller. The action of the
wheel and pallet is simply that of rotary con-
verted into that of vib •atory motion, and is
effected by means of driving planes on each
arm of the pallet, acted upon by the wheel,
and is called the lifting action. There is also
an action of the wheel and pallet, very neces-
sary to good performance, called the " c raw,"
Avhich is produced by means of a slight devia-
tion from the line of the locking-face on each
arm of the pallet, causing the pallet to be
drawn in towards the wheel after the latter
has given its impulse, thus completely detach-
ing the vibrations of the balance from its
connection with the other parts of the
escapement, until the return vibration again
completes the connection by means of the
ruby-pin in the roller ; hence its name.
The action of the roller embodies two func-
tions— that of impulsion, and that of unlock-
ing. The pallet, being of one piece with the
lever (so to speak), is forced by the action of
the wheel on the p llet, as already described,
to communicate the impulse derived to the
balance, by means of the ruby-pin in the
roller. On the return of the ruby-pin to the
slot in the lever, it carries it forward just far
enough to unlock the locking tooth from its
resting place against the pallet, receiving im-
mediately after an impulse on that arm. As
soon as this is accomplished, another tooth
communicates another impulse to the balance
by means of the plane on the other arm of
the pallet, and which action is continuous.
There is another action, called the safety
action, which is also very essential to good
performance in watches, and has for its ob-
ject the prevention of the lever being thrown
out of position while the balance is detached
from the lever, in one of its vibrations ; this
is effected by means of the roller, which, being
perfectly round, prevents the lever, when dis-
turbed by violent external motion, from pass-
ing the roller by means of a pin or abutment
on the lever striking against the edge of the
roller when disturbed, but immediately re-
turning from that place by the action of the
" draw," when released by the stoppage of
external motion.
There is yet another function of this es-
capement, also very necessary — that of " bank-
ing ;" which is nothing more than two pins
placed at proper distances from each other,
on each side of the lever. The object of
these pins is to keep the lever in position, but
in a contrary manner to that of the " safety
action." The lever, if not controlled by the
banking arrangement, would pass out of reach
of the ruby-pin, acted upon by the " draw "
already described, on the return vibration of
the balance. From what has been already said
of the action and functions involved in a lever
escapement, it will be seen that it is some-
what complicated, though not more so than
many others that are inferior in principle and
performance ; and besides, in these very
complications it is- yet simple, that is, easy of
execution. Now the end we aim to attain is,
to find the d stance of any given size wheel
from the pallet, and the pallet's proportion to
the size of the wheel ; its arms, its driving
planes, its locking faces, the size of the roller,
etc., etc. We will treat of the action of the
wheel and pallet, and of the lever and roller
separately, considering that of the wheel and
pallet first.
To find the exact proportion of the size of
the pallet to that of the wheel, and the exact
distance of the wheel from the pallet, first fix
upon any size wheel, and increase its dimen-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
85
sions ten or fifteen times, the better to carry
on the operation, and draw this circle on
aper; from the centre of this circle (or wheel,
as we shall hereafter call it) draw a line K,
as shown in Fie. 1. The number of teeth the
wueel Has i m cms case 15; mast be known ;
the pallets are to span 21 teeth of the wheel ;
this will then farm an arc of 60°; as 3G0°, the
whole circumference of the wheel, divided by
15, the number of wheel teeth, equals 21°, the
distance from one tooth to another, this
quotient multiplied by 1\, the number of teeth
the pallet is to span, will give 24° X 2^ = 60° ;
which are laid out, with the aid of a pro-
tractor, to 30° on each side of the line K, and
marked a, from the centre of wheel C. Next
proceed to draw lines t. These lines
must be drawn so as to touch the periphery
of the wheel, and form a right angle with the
line a and the point where the lines t cross
each other will indicate the centre of motion
of pallet M.
Next proceed to determine the strength of
the arms the pallet is to have, which must be
equal to one half the space from one tooth to
the other, which is 12° ; but from this we
must take 3° for the requisite fall of the tooth
after giving the impulse, which gives us 9°
for the strength of the pallet arms, which we
mark on the right side of the line a, from the
centre of wheel C, and draw into curves from
the centre of pallet M, and marked s s, as
shown in the figure, thus making the locking
faces equidistant.
Now proceed to determine the lifting and
locking faces of the pallets. In this case we
have taken 10° for the lifting plane, and 1£°
for the locking face ; the whole movement of
the pallet will then be 11|°, which we draw
from centre of pallet M, and equidistant on
each side of the lines t, and marked d, b;
but 11|° being the whole movement of the
pallet, and as we already know that 10° is the
lifting plane, and 1\° the locking plane, so, to
distinguish the lifting from the locking, we
draw a line, c, from the centre of pallet, M,
1|° distant from and below the line b. To
find the face of the pallet arms, draw a line
from the point where the line c crosses the
curve- s, to the point where the line d crosses
the curve s.
Next proceed to determine the angle to be
given the locking faces, so as to create the
" draw." From the point e draw a line, r?
on the right side of the line a, at an angle of
15° on the arm where the tooth commences
its action, and 12° on the arm where the
tooth ends its action ; these will give the
proper locking faces, with the tendency of
the pallets to be drawn towards the wheel
when the tooth is at rest. We finally deter-
mine the inclination of working faces of the
teeth from a straight line to the centre of
wheel, C, which is generally from 28° to 30° ;
but in this case it is 28°, which is drawn from
the point of any tooth, as shown in the
figure.
The escapement just analyzed is the Eng-
lish method of carrying out the lever escape-
ment, and the escape wheel has ratchet teeth.
We will now consider the lever escapement
as adopted by the Swiss — having club teeth,
and where the driving planes are partly on
the teeth of the wheel, and partly on the arms
of the pallet. To plan this escapement, fix
upon the size of the wheel and the number of
teeth it is to have, and then increase the di-
mensions of the wheel ten or fifteen times,
and draw the circle or wheel on paper, as
shown in Fig. 2 ; then draw line K, from the
centre of wheel, C ; as- we purpose to have
the pallets span 2| teeth, and the number of
wheel teeth to be 15, we will then have
360°, the circumference of the wheel ; divid-
ed by 15, the number of wheel teeth, gives
U3 21° for the span from one tooth to the
86
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
other; this multiplied by 2 \, the number of
teeth the pallet is to span, gives 24° X 2| =
60°, which are laid out, by the aid of the pro-
tractor, on each side of the line K to 30°, and
marked a ; next draw the lines t, so that they
touch the periphery of the wheel and form a
right angle with the line a. Where the lines 1 1
cross each other is the centre of motion of
the pallet, marked M. "We must next proceed
to determine the strength of the pallet arms
and the wheel teeth, thus : 24° being the
space from one tooth tu another, we take a
sixth part of this (4°) for the strength of the
wheel teeth, anil will then have 20° left ; from
this take one half (10°) for the strength of
the pallet arms, deducting 2° for the requi-
site fall of the tooth after giving the
impulse, which leaves 8° for the strength
of the pallet arms ; these 8° we now mark on
the right side of the lines a, from the centre
of wheel, C, and then draw into curves, s, s,
from the centre of pallet, M. We next give
to the wheel teeth their proper inclination or
driving planes, which, in this case, should be
4°, and which are drawn below the line t
from the centre of pallets M, and marked c,
from this point where the iines a, and c,
cross each other, we draw a circle from the
centre of wheel, C, and marked q, as shown
in the diagram, which determines the proper
place for the fore end of the wheel teeth.
The next thing to determine is, the lifting
and locking faces. The lifting1 face in this
case is proposed to be 6°, and the locking 1|°
for each pallet arm, which we proceed to
draw thus : From the centre of pallet, M,
draw the line d, below the line c, 6° distant
from the line t, which gives the lifting angle
proposed, and from above the line t, 1|° dis-
tant, draw from the centre of pallet, M, the
line b, which gives the locking-face as pro-
posed. To find the face of the pallet arms,
draw a line g, from the point where the line
t crosses the curve s to the point where the
line d crosses the curve s, the driving planes
of the pallet arms. Then proceed to deter-
mine the angle to be given the locking faces
in order to create the requisite " draw ; "
this, as in the preceding case, has 15°
on the arm where the tooth commences
its action, and 12° on the arm where the
tooth ends its action, drawn from the point
e, and marked r.
To give the teeth their proper shape, we
give for the breadth 4°, before determined,
marked from the wheel centre, C, by reason
of which are found the driving planes of the
wheel teeth ; that is, a line drawn from the
fore end of the tooth in the circle q, to the
periphery of the wheel in the limit of 4°, as
shown in the diagram. We finally determine the
angle of the working faces of the teeth, which,
in this case, should be 28°, drawn from the fore
end of a tooth. When it is required to re-
duce the proportion found of pallet to wheel,
arms, locking face, lifting plane, etc., etc.,
each part will only have to be diminished as
many times as the original size of the wheel
was increased.
By the method above given a repairer will
be enabled to test the soundness in principle
of the action of any wheel or pallet of which
he may be doubtful. The description has
been purposely minute in order that those
having never planned an escapement will be
better able to understand it and apply it. In
the next number of the Horological Journal
will be considered the action of the lever and
roller.
N. Y., Sept., 1870. Chas. Spieo.
[figg05 We are requested -by Mr. Spiro to
state that it will not be possible for him to
take any more orders, as he expects to leave
for San Francisco in about two months, from
which place he will continue to correspond
with the Journal.]
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
87
DIALING.
NUMBER FOUR.
A North Erect Dial (Fig. 12) is constructed
the quadrant S D into six equal parts, lay the
ruler at C, and to those parts in the circle,
and it will cut the line A B in those points
on a wall, or plane, facing the true north
point. This dial is useless from September
22d to March 21st, while the sun is in the six
southern signs (to those who inhabit the
northern hemisphere), because it can only
show the time from the sun's rising until six
in the morning, and in the evening from six
till sunset ; consequently we shall not give its
construction particularly, but only say it is
exactly the same as the South Erect dial, only
the stile points upward, and the line VI. VI.
is drawn at the bottom instead of the top oi
the dial-plane.
A Direct East Dial is drawn on a plane
parallel to the meridian. Consequently the
hour lines are parallel to the earth's axis, and
to each other. The sun comes on it at its
rising and continues on it until noon. The
VI. hour line is the substilar line, and the stile
may be a thin plate of metal or an iron rod.
At about two-thirds the distance from the
lower edge of the dial-plane draw the hori-
zontal line A C H. (Fig. 13.) At some
convenient distance, as at C, draw a circle
with a chord of 60° ; then take the chord of the
latitude of the place and set from H to P,
and draw the G o'clock hour line PGS, which
is the substilar line, to which, at right angles,
draw the equinoctial, C D. Next draw the
line A SB, parallel to the equinoctial ; divide
through which the hour line must pass ;
through those points draw them parallel to
the 6 o'clock line and you will have the pro-
per hour lines. The smaller subdivisions of
course you can construct by subdivision, as in
the other dials. The stile fix on the 6 o'clock
line, at right angles to the plane of the dial ;
its height equal to C D.
An Erect-Direct Wert Dial is constructed
exactly like the east dial, except that you
draw your circle to the right, on the horizon-
tal line, instead of at the left, as in the East
dial ; cons quently the hour lines will be ele-
vated to the left instead of the right, as
shown in Fig'. 14.
In drawing dials for planes' not direct — that
is, declining to the east or west — it becomes
necessary to ascertain the amount of declina-
tion ; and this can be determined by a very
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
simple instrument, which you can construct
yourself. Get a good-seasoned bit of board,
exactly square ; cover one side with paper nicely
pasted on, and draw on it, from the centre, two,
three, or more, concentric circles. Through
the centre at I, let there be a hole to receive a
straight wire to screw (or slide) up or down
at pleasure,' and to constantly stand at right
angles to the plane of the board itself ; draw
two diameters exactly perpendicular to the
edge of the board, and mark them N. S. E.
W. ; when the north edge of the board is
placed against an exact south wall, the line
N. S. becomes the 12 o'clock line ; or what-
ever the wall declines, that line is perpendicu-
lar to the wall itself.
To take the Declination. — In the forenoon,
when the sun is shining, apply the edge of
the instrument, A B, to the wall ; set it per-
fectly horizontal by your quadrant ; screw up
the perpedicuiar pin in the centre till the top
of its shadow touch anjr one of the circles, say
at the point F (Fig. 15) ; let things now rest
until afternoon, and observe when the top of
the shadow is on the same circle, and there
make a dot at G. Take down the instrument,
and with your compasses subdivide the arc
F H at G, and draw a line through the cen-
tre to K, and you will have the true 12
o'clock line. The angle N I G is the degree
of declination of the wall, which amount you
can find by applying the d: stance N Gto your
line of chords. When the line G K falls on
the east side of N S, the declination is east ;
and when on the west side, it is west.
Erect Declining Dials. — As we have before
mentioned, those upright dial planes, which
decline from the north or south points to-
ward the east or the west, are called declining
dials, and the first thing to be ascertained
before attempting their construction, is the
amount of the declination of the dial plane.
Suppose you wish to make a dial on a
south erect plane, whose declination is 21° 10'
West, for the lat. of 52° 25' N. Draw the
horizontal line A B (Fig. 16) ; from C, let fall
the perpendicular, C 12, for the 12 o'clock
hour line, and from the line of chords take
60°, and with one foot of the compass in C,
draw the semicircle ADB; take the com-
plement of the lat. (36° 35') from the line of
chords, and set it from D to E, and draw E
F parallel to A B ; this done, take in your
compasses the plane's declination (21° 10')
from the line of chords, and set it from D to
G ; take E F in your compasses, and set it
from C to H, and draw H I parallel to A B ;
take H I and set from F to L, and draw C
L M. Now, D M, measured on your line of
chords, is 15° 21' — the distance of the sub-
stilar line from the 12 o'clock line.
For the Stile's Height. — From the point H
draw the line H K parallel to C D; then
take H K in your compasses, and set from L
to N, and draw C N for the top of the stile.
For the Hour Lines. — In any convenient
place in the substilar line (depending on the
size of the dial), as at M, draw the hue R S
at right angles to the substilar line C M ; set
one foot of the compass in M, and take the
nearest distance to the stile's height ; one
foot resting in M, turn the other to Q, in the
substilar line ; upon Q as a centre, with the
distance Q M, draw the dotted circle which
represents the equinoctial; lay a ruler from the
centre at Q, to the point where the lines C 12
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
83
21° 10'
and R S intersect (D), and where the ruler
cuts the dotted circle (at O); there begin and
divide it into 21 equal parts, which mark
with little dots ; lay the ruler to the centre,
Q. and to every one of the equal divisions in
the equinoctial, and where the ruler cuts the
line R S, there make a mark ; then by draw-
ing lines from the centre of the dial at C,
through each of those marks in the line R S,
you have drawn the correct hour lines, which
you may then number in the margin of the
dial. The stile must hang directly over the
substilar line, and the top be so placed, by
your quadrant, that the thread will cut the
exact latitude of your place on the Hmb of the
quadrant.
In constructing this dial you have, in fact,
drawn four dials, viz. :
South, declining East
West
North " East
West
You will observe that it is not the stile that
changes its position but the plane itself, for
the style, answering to the latitude of the
place, remains constantly the same in all
declinations ; so that if you conceive a plane
declining (as in the example) 21° 10' west-
ward, the substilar line falls between the hours
of one and two in the afternoon. Suppose
the same plane to be moved to the eastward
21° 10', the substilar line will then fall among
the morning hours; audit always follows, that
if the plane declines eastward, the substilar line
will fall among the morning hours, and if to
the west, among the evening hours ; conse-
quently the name of the hour lines must de-
pend on the direction of the declination, and
by reversing the dial (turning it upside down)
you have a north declining dial for whatever
degree of declination it is constructed — which
in the example is 21° 10'.
Declining-Reclining Dial. — Such planes as
directly face the North or South points, but
which recline, that is, lean from you as you
face them, like the roof of a house, are
called North or South direct planes, reclin-
ing so many degrees as they deviate from a
perpendicular. You can find the degree of
reclination by applying the edge of your
quadrant to the plane, and the thread will
cut the limb in the number of degrees which
the plane reclines. There may be six varie-
ties, three South and three North, either of
which may be reduced to new latitudes ; then
they become horizontal planes for all pur-
poses of construction, and consequently the
hour lines can be drawn on them as pre-
viously directed.
Direct South Recliners. — Suppose a direct
South plane in the latitude of 52° 12' N.,
which reclines from the zenith 26° ; in what
latitude will that be a horizontal plane ?
Now, because the reclination is less than the
complement of the lat. (37° 48'), subtract
the plane's reclination (28°) from the com-
plement of the latitude, and the remiinder
(11° 48') is the new latitude.
Operation :
90°
Latitude of place - - - 52 12'
Complement of lat. - - 37 48
Reclination of plane - - 28
New latitude ----- 11° 18'
Therefore a horizontal dial, drawn for a lat.
of 11° 48', will be the proper construction of
a dial for the lat. 52° 12' N, with a recli-
nation of 26°. If the reclination of the plane
equals the complement of the lat., then the
new lat. is nothing ; that b , the pole has no
elevation above such a plane, and the hour
lines upon it will ail be parallel to the plane
itself ; in fact, it becomes a polar .dial. If
the reclination exceed the complement of
the lat., the complement must be subtracted
from the reclination, which will give you the
lat. for the construction of a dial for that lo-
cality.
Example : A plane whose reclination is
56° in the lat. 52° 42'. N.
Operation :
Reclination ----- 5G°
Comp. of lat. ----- 37 18'
Correct lat. for c :nstruction - 18° 12'
In finding the new lat. for north recliners,
if the reclination be less than the comple-
ment of lat., add them' together. Such dials
(north) are so seldom desired, owing to the
very short time the sun is upon them, that
more extended rules for drawing them are
not deemed necessary, nor shall we devote
valuable space to directions as to such un-
90
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
usual positions as Erst and West reclining
dials.
Reflecting Dials — May be convenient in many
situations, and are made by placing a small
horizontal mirror so as to reflect the sun's
rays to the ceiling. It is a very neat arrange-
ment for a watchmaker who has a south win-
dow, for in this manner he can construct a
very large dial on his ceiling over head, quite
out of the way, and always convenient to ob-
servation. The little mirror, if of glass, should
be as thin as it is possible to obtain, for the
reason that there are two reflecting surfaces
to every glass mirror, which each form an in-
dependent image of the sun ; and as the two
reflective surfaces are not in the same plane,
the images will not coincide on the wall, but
overlap each other a little, producing an in-
distinct outline prejudicial to exact observa-
tion ; and the more the reflecting surfaces
differ from the same plane, the more will the
produced images overlap. A metallic surface
forms the best mirror ; a bit of polished steel
is excellent, if the surface is protected from
oxidation, as its reflected image of the sun
forms a clear, distinct outline.
Method of Construction. — Place your mirror,
which need be no larger than a silver five-
cent piece, in a truly horizontal position ; this
you can perhaps most conveniently do by ob-
serving in it the reflected image of the ad-
jacent corners of the room, or of the window
casing or sash bars, or any object within view
which has perpendicular lines sufficiently well
defined. If your mirror deviates from hori-
zontal, these reflected perpendiculars will not
be straight lines, but bent at the surface of
the mirror ; but by repeated observations, in
various directions, and corresponding changes
of level in the mirror, you may get it suffi-
ciently accurate for the purpose.
Having fixed the mirror, you must draw a
meridian line, which you can do by suspend-
ing a plumb line over the centre of the mir-
ror, which line will cast a shadow on the floor
at meridian, and which will be the 12 o'clock
hour line ; or you can construct such a line
by the process heretofore described. This
being done, the meridian line on the floor
must be transferred to the ceiling, which may
be accomplished by the help of two plumb
lines — one over the mirror, the other over the
other end of the 12 o'clock line, as at A, Fig.
17, by which means you will have two points
on the ceiling over the meridian line on the
floor. Between these two points stretch a
line, charged with lamp-black and oil, and
snap it (after the manner of a chalk line), and
you have permanently the 12 o'clock hour
line A C ; make the angle DRP equal to the
complement of the latitude of the place (say
36° 30'), which you must do by the aid of a
string held, one end at the mirror R, the
other at the ceiling, represented by B R, and
apply the edge of your quadrant till you find
the thread of it cuts the limb at 36° 30';
through that point of the 12 o'clock line (at
B) the equinoctial line must pass, which draw
at right angles to A D, which is a straight
line, as you see in the figure.
To draw the Hour Lines. — With any con-
venient opening of the compass, draw the
semi-circle R L M, and divide it into 12 equal
parts ; but because the centre of the dial does
not fall in the room, but out of it in the open
air at O, before the hour lines can be dra^n
you must ascertain the angle that each hour
line makes with the 12 o'clock line, and their
complements are the angles that they make
with the equinoctial. This can be done by
calculation ; but as these directions were to
be mechanical, you must proceed to draw a
horizontal dial for the latitude of the place
you are in, as shown at Fig. 17, and with
your compasses and line of chords measure
the angles that the hour lines make with the
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
91
meridian, and set them down in a table, as
follows. Suppose the lat. be 53° 30' :
Hours.
Angle
with Mer.
Angle with
Equinoctial.
O 1
12.
0
0
0 0
1. 11.
12
10
77 50
2. 10.
24
54
65 06
3. 9.
38
47
51 13
4. 8.
54
19
35 41
O. 1,
71
34
18 26
6.
0
0
0 0
Lay your quadrant to the meridian line and
make angles upon the ceiling equal to those
in the second column of the table ; or you
may lay it to the equinoctial line on the ceil-
ing and make the angles for every hour equal
to those in the third column of the table ; and
by the use of your blackened string, draw the
hour lines permanently upon the wall ; or
they may be drawn another way, if you think
this too tedious. "When you have drawn the
horizontal dial for your latitude, place the
centre of it at the centre of the mirror, and
fix a thread at the centre of the dial ; lay the
thread straight over every hour of your hori-
zontal dial, fasten it at the other side of the
room, and so transfer them to the ceiling as
you did the meridian line, by the aid of plumb
lines.
We shall give you one more construction
which will be space enough devoted to an
obsolete art, and will close what we have to
say at prevent on the subject of dialing.
Globe Dial. — This dial, drawn upon a solid
or hollow sphere, shows the hour of the day
without a stile or gnomon. Procure a sphere,
either wood, stone, or metal, which must be
fixed upon a pedestal of any kind you choose ;
then proceed to draw upon it the circles of
the sphere, which you can do by the help of
a semicircle which just fits the sphere. A B
being the horizon, Z N the prime vertical,
draw P S, the earth's axis to your latitude ;
make Z E equal to P B, and B G equal to
A E, and draw E Gr for the equinoctial; which
divide into 24 equal parts, and through those
divisions draw the meridians or hour circles,
all meeting at the poles. At 23° 29' from the
poles draw the polar circles ; and the same
distance north and south of the equinoctial
draw the tropics Capricorn and Cancer, and
from 53 to V5 draw the ecliptic; on which you
can, if you choose, place the signs of the Zodiac,
beginning at the intersection of the equinoc-
tial and ecliptic, and measure off 30° for Aries,
and 30° more for Taurus, and so on for each
successive sim 30°.
The hours must be numbered in the equi-
noctial, placing 12 in the east and west points
of the horizon, and 6 in the meridian; be-
cause one-half the globe is illuminated, and
the edge of illumination shows the hour in
two opposite places. On it, if you choose,
can be drawn the outline of the principal
countries and cities, according to their true
longitude, shoAving what places on the globe
are enlightened and what in darkness; where
the sun is rising and where setting ; and in
fact all the various and interesting problems
of the globe. Wires also inserted at the north
and south poles will show the hours — north
in summer — south in winter.
"We see in the Revue Chronometrique, pub-
lished by M. Saunier, Paris, the description
of a new equatorial dial so adapted in the
manner of putting it up (ball and socket
joint) as to popularize it for more general
use. Of course, being equatorial, it is drawn
on both sides, upper and lower, with the
equation table for mean time fixed on the
upper dial for the summer months, and on
the lower dial for the winter months. It
is easily adjusted to the latitude by direct-
ing the gnomon to the polar star, and to the
meridian by setting it from any correct time-
piece.
92
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
PATIENCE.
Patience is an element of character most
admirably fitted to adorn the watchmaker as
well as the Christian gentleman. Few occu-
pations have an equal amount of petty annoy-
ances in their prosecution, and querulous
operatives are frequently heard wishing that
the famous historic personage who afforded so
shining an example of its excellence in his own
personal sufferings had been a member of their
profession, that they might have seen whether
he would not " have fell from grace " under its
manifold temptations. We once, in our ver-
dancy, ventured to say that were Job a watch-
maker, we were sure the lustre of his fame
would have been tarnished by the use of some
very improper expletives. No doubt he was
very grievously tormented, and that he de-
serves the full measure of praise bestowed on
him ; nevertheless, we are not disposed to
permit him to enjoy a monopoly of the virtue
of patience; others besides him have suffered
and borne, but have not been equally fortu-
nate in securing so exquisite a poetical fancy
to depict their trials and triumphs. This
beautiful virtue assumes so many and diver-
sified forms — each rendered distinctive only
by combination with other personal charac-
terists — as to defy classification ; and whether
we shall succeed in bringing out clearly any
special attribute peculiarly adapted to our
calling remains to be seen.
It certainly is something different from that
form manifested under affliction, which weeps,
yet kisses the hand that smites; or that meek-
ly prays for the bitter cup to pass when dis-
ease lays its burning palm on the brow, and
sets the life blood rushing through the veins
at fearful speed ; or that, when death robs
us of our heart's treasure, and plucks out the
very eye of our existence, clasps its hands,
and turns its tearful eyes to heaven, saying,
"Father, not my will, but Thine be done;"
neither is it that physical fortitude which en-
dures the knife and saw without a groan, or
permits the bigot's fire to consume the body
by hell's own torture, without a sigh, or the
movement of a muscle; nor is it the bodily
and mental endurance which uncomplainingly
labors day and night, in heat or cold, to earn
the pittance which links body and soul toge-
ther ; nor yet the calm which settles on the
soul, tearless and awful, when calamity, al-
most too great for endurance, overtakes and
crushes.
All these, and more, are forms of patience
derived from Christian submission, or consti-
tutional fortitude, and are phases quite dif-
ferent from what we have in contemplation.
The quality we speak of is shown in the calm
unruffled endurance of little provocations —
diminutive irritations — which oftener arise
from our own neglect or stupidity, and which
we cannot blame upon others — than from
pure accident ; it is a patience which comes
from education, and is often exhibited in a
marked degree in affairs pertaining to one's
calling, without in the least influencing the
general character of the person. We have
known workmen search for hours without a
murmur for a minute article lost, and yet
bristle up, "like the fretful porcupine," at
the slightest word of provocation.
We do not expect in the wide-awake ener-
getic man no sign of anger ; such a person
would be more than human ; to seek to extin-
guish it entirely is but the bravery of a stoic;
but the proper control of it, is about our defi-
nition ; limiting it in degree and duration,
constitutes patience. The constant endeavor
to do this is a part of the necessary educa-
tion of the practical workman ; and we have
found no better way to do this than to medi-
tate on the subject after the provocation has
ceased. Seneca says : " Anger is like rain,
which breaks itself on what it falls." Men
must not become wasps and sting themselves.
Anger, when uncontrolled, is the unmistakable
evidence and accompaniment of weakness ;
consequently, is pardonable in children, dis-
eased, or old and infirm persons ; but a strong
man in its grasp is from that moment in the
power of his adversary, and becomes a fit
subject for ridicule. Whosoever cannot pos-
sess his soul in patience is at the mercy of
circumstances. What can be more ridicu-
lous than a man, perhaps " grave and rever-
end," standing on tip-toe, on the top of a
high stool, stretching himself to his utmost
limit to reach a top shelf ; suddenly the stool
" flips" from under him, and he is sprawling
on the floor ; instantly angry, dispossessed of
his patient soul, he kicks the harmless stool
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
93
to the further end of the room, and in so
doing breaks his leg ; in spite of his agony
who can help smiling at his folly ?
So is he a fit subject for mirth, who, in a
sudden gust of wind, becomes the servant in-
stead of the master of — his hat, and follows
it as fast as his legs can carry him. No
" laugh comes in" when the owner patiently
waits for the hat to quit its frolic, and lets
" patience have her perfect work;" the man
then continues master of the hat.
Our daily lesson in education should be
quiet endurance of all momentary irritations ;
that will always give the man complete mas-
tery of the situation, save him from further
injury to himself, and from becoming ridicu-
lous in the eyes of his fellows.
GARLIC JUICE VS. MAGNETISM.
We have always deprecated the publication
of receipts, processes, or methods that were
not well authenticated, and been thoroughly
proved. Earlier in life we have been led
many a long chase in pursuit of a result said
to follow when certain things were done so
and so. Now we are a little cautious of wast-
ing time (mostly gone) and money, upon
experiments obviously contrary to our experi-
ence with the law3 of Nature ; or even ven-
turing much on statements of processes that
did not seem to show any analogy between
the means and the end. One of these experi-
ments we have just tried, and are almost
ashamed to own it. A long time ago we read
in a little pamphlet published in St. Louis
for the use and instruction of watchmakers,
that garlic juice would extract magnetism
from any piece of steel so charged. Not being
able to see any possible relation between the
means and the result, we concluded it could
not be true, and didn't try it; but recently we
have received a communication from a valued
correspondent on the subject, wherein he
describes several experiments going to show
that onion will do the thing. We were still
unbelieving, thinking there must be some
error in his observations — some condition
which ho had overlooked; so we experimented,
following his directions as near as possible,
and the result verified our expectations. We
took a square, pivot file which was strongly
magnetic, taking careful note of the weight it
would sustain^ and placed it between the two
halves of an onion, fitting it in nicely, and
bound them together and watched for the
result which was stated would follow in a
few minutes. In ten minutes, no result ; in
twelve, none ; none in an hour, and in 24 hours
the magnet was as strong as ever. Think-
ing that the original formula (garlic) might
succeed, we tried that ; and our tears bore
witness to the same signal failure. Wherein
our test was erroneous we cannot see ; we
took the utmost pains, consequently we must
be pardoned for remaining incredulous till
we have further proof.
THE NEW YOBK WATCH COMPANY.
About the first of May last, Mr. Richard
Oliver, of No. 11 John street, who had enjoyed
a reputation for dealing in fine watches, be-
coming satisfied that the productions of the
above Company would do credit to his repu-
tation, associated with himself Mr. Peter
Balen, Jr., and made arrangements for the
entire production of the factory. A few weeks
afterward the building, together with the
heavy machinery, was destroyed by fire. This
calamity occurring during working hours,
while all the employees were on duty, the
greater portion of the tools and small ma-
chinery was saved, together with the material
in different stages of completion, which en-
abled them to provide temporary accommo-
dations and go to work again with very little
delay ; and now, we are happy to say, they
have so perfected their arrangements as to
be able to meet all demands made upon them
for their watches.
Availing themselves of all the past experi-
ence of the other factories, they were enabled,
at the start, to provide themselves with the
best machinery that could be made — their
machine shop, in particular, being without a
rival in quality. The style of their watches,
so far as already produced, is f plate, and we
consider it in every respect much more dear-
able than the old full plate movement, though
they are making arrangements to produce, in
a short time, that style of watch, thereby
94
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
bringing themselves in direct competition,
both in price and quality, "with the other com-
panies. The design of the watch is plain and
neat, and the work is simple, sound and well
finished ; and, having a quick vibration, and
a tempered spring, is capable of a very accur-
ate adjustment. We have carried one for
several weeks, taken at random out of the
stock (and 2d quality), for the purpose of
testing their performance, and can say that that
or,e has performed remarkably well, and see
no reason why the others should not do as
well.
c
STAKING TOOLS.
Editor Hoeological, Journal :
Noticing a description of a new " staking
in a late number of your paper, I am
tool'
induced to write you about one which I have
had in use for the past three years, which Mr.
Farjeon, of Nassau street, sells. This tool
costs but $7, which brings it within reach of
all. It is made of the best cast-iron, very
much on the st}le of the old Swiss uprighting
tool, having a base of about two inches, and
runs up, on a taper, about one and one-half
inches, where it has a "face" of about one
and one-fourth inches across. From the side
of this face an arm runs up, in the form of
nearly a half circle, and ends with a piece
extending upward about two inches, directly
over the edge of the "face" of the tool. On
this "face" is a hard, polished, circular steel
plate, which revolves on a turned steel pin,
passing down through its centre. Through
this pin is drilled a hole, nearly at the bot-
tom, and through the back of the tool runs a
screw with a taper p->itit, which, being forced
into the hole in the pin, draws it down and
holds the steel plate firmly in its place. This
steel plate is full of graduated holes, and any
one of these holes is brought directly under
the punch by revolving the plate and putting
the "pointed centre" down into the hole ; then
turn up the back screw and the plate is fast.
This tool has with it twenty punches, both
round and flat faced, with holes in them,
ranging from the very finest Swiss pinion up
to largest centre pinion. Also there are two
solid punches for riveting bushes — one round
and one flat faced ; also ono for stretching
wheels, and one for pushing down a roller
perfectly true. There are also four " stubs"
to put in the largest holes, to rivet bushes on,
alter the "end shake," and one to rivet a
balance with the rim down. This tool is one
every workman needs, and its price being so
low should induce every good workman to
order one.
The accompanying drawing will give a good
general idea of the appearance of the tool.
E. A. Sweet.
New Yoke, Sept. 26, 1870.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
T. G., Wilmington, Del— Asks " Why do the
American Watch Co. send their watches into
market without having the forks and levers
poised? In the three-quarter plate Apple-
ton & Tracy watch, for instance, where every-
thing else in the escapement is beautifully
finished, and the geometrical proportions
correct, why is this important condition of
the lever wanting ? Is the necessity of it
ignored, or is it omitted through neglect?
Will one of the Company please inform us ?
The fact of having to correct such discrepan-
cies in watches as highly recommended as the
one in question, and .when in the finished
state, is excessively annoying."
We cannot answer for the Company, but
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
95
we can say that a watch which makes pre-
tence to such accuracy as to be adjusted to
temperature and position, should also be as
near perfect in the poise of the pallets as may
be ; for there is a possibility of error in
change of position where such imperfection
exists. Every mechanic and mathematician
is aware how rapidly very small but constant
increments of time or space accumulate ;
the error may be only the infinitesimal part
of a vibration of the balance, and it may be
much more than that in those watches in
which the lever is oblique, or at right angles
to a vertical line from the pendant ; yet, in an
hour the quantity of these minute errors
amounts to 16,000 or 18,000, and in a day
is increased to the number of 132,000, a quan-
tity which certainly begins to be appreciable.
Of course there is another side to this ques-
tion ; some, who are high authority, asserting
that unless the want of poise is sufficient, by
violent agitation, to unlock the pallets and
bring the guard pin in contact with the
roller, that the minute additions or diminu-
tions to the momentum of the balance by the
lever being slightly out of poise, counterbal-
ance each other perfectly.
"We are heartily glad of one thing, how-
ever, which is, that the trade are becoming
critical, and are reasoning, philosophizing,
and educating themselves to a higher stand-
ard of excellence ; these are indications in a
direction that will ultimately compel all
watch manufacturers to depend upon the
perfection of their products to secure to them-
selves the confidence of dealers.
Or. A. L., Gal. — "We do not know how the
crimson watch hands of commerce are manu-
actured, but you can produ3e the desired color
by using any lacquer colored to the tint re-
quired by dragon's blood, or by aniline color;
apply with a soft camel hair pencil. An ex-
cellent red lacquer is made of 8 parts (by
weight; good alcohol, lpart dragon's blood, 3
parts Spanih anatto, 4| parts gum sandarack,
2 parts turpentine. Digest (with frequent
shaking; for a week; decant, and filter; must
be kept close. In some localities it is dif-
ficult to get pure alcohol — and let us say in
parenthesis, that the failure of many an ex-
periment and receipt is due to the want
of puro_ material. Common alcohol may
be rendered nearly pure by putting a pint
in a bottle, which it will fill only about three-
fourths full ; add to it half an ounce of hot
powdered pearlash or salt of tartar; shake
the mixture frequently during half an hour,
before which time a considerable sediment,
like phlegm, will separate from the spirits,
and it will appear along with the undissolved
pearlash or salt at the bottom of the bottle.
Pour the spirit off into another bottle, being-
careful to bring none of the sediment with it.
To the quantity just poured off add half an
ounce of pearlash powdered, and heated as be-
fore, and repeat the same treatment. Continue
to do this until you obtain little or no sediment.
"When this is the case an ounce of alum pow-
dered, and made hot, but not burned, must
be put into the spirits, and allowed to remain
some hours, the bottle being frequently shak-
en during that time ; after which the spirit,
when poured off, will be found equal to the
best rectified spirits of wine.
A. F. O, N. Y. — It is not necessary to
alloy iron castings or coat them with any
other metal for the purpose of giving them
the appearance of bronze. After having care-
fully and thoroughly cleaned the article, give
it a uniform coating of some vegetable oil ;
sweet oil is as good as any, and more readily
obtained than most others. Having done
this, expose it, in a furnace, to a high tem-
perature, taking care not to carbonize the oil.
By this means the casting absorbs the oxygen
at the moment when the oil is decomposed,
and forms on its surface a thin coating of
oxide, which adheres very strongly to the
metal. It is susceptible of a high polish, and
presents the appearance of a beautiful bronze.
$3f We have received from Mr. E. L.
May, of Defiance, Ohio, an illustration of his
method of keeping his watch register. His
day-book does not differ materially from
those in general use by the trade, but he has,
in addition, what he calls a ledger, into which
are posted, in a very comprehensive manner,
the items in the journal, making the ledger
very convei ient for reference, and showing
for the week or month at a glance the amount
of his watch-work. The customers, as well
as himself, are protected by a system of
numbered tickets or checks, which insures
safety from loss.
96
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
H. P. F., N. Y — Many experiments have
been made to try the tenacity of various
metals. The results — as measured with a
spring balance — we give below : Two wires
(No. 23) were used. The weight which broke
these wires was — for tin, 7 lbs. ; for lead, 7
lbs. ; for gold, 25 lbs. ; for copper, 30 lbs. ;
for silver, 50 lbs. ; for iron, 90 lbs. ; for ahoy
of lead and tin, 7 lbs. ; for alloy of tin and
copper (12 lbs. to 100 of copper), 7 lbs. ; for
alloy of copper and tin (12 lbs. to 100 tin),
93 lbs.; for alloy of gold and copper, 75 lbs. ;
for alloy of silver and platina, 80 lbs. ; for
steel, 200 lbs.
A. L. C, Phila. — We hardly know what one
you refer to. In the Museum of the St. Peters-
burg Academy of Sciences there is carefully
preserved a watch said to be made by a mar-
vellously inspired Russian peasant. It played
two airs, and moved figures, although no
larger than an egg. It was a repeater, too,
and had a representation of the tomb of
Christ, with the Roman sentinels on the
watch. On pressing a spring, the stone would
roll away from the tomb, the sentinels fall
down, the holy women enter the sepulchre,
and a chant would be played. This is the
only one we know of claimed to be the pro-
duct of inspiration.
A. S. M., Mass. — We know no instrument
that will give you the strength of hair-spring
necessary for a watch when the weight of bal-
ance, and the number of vibrations per min-
ute, are known ; such a contrivance would be
exceedingly useful. The only hair-spring
gauge in general use is Bottom's.
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
o
B_ MILLER,
229 Broadway, K. T.,
At $9.50 per fear, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
toith the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
received.
B@°" Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Norlha npton
Sjuare, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
AH communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For October, 1870.
M
Sidereal
Time
Equation
Sidereal
is
of
of
Equation
Time
o
Day
the Semi-
Time to he
of
or
of
diameter
Subtracted
Time to he
Right
<**
o
Mon.
Passing
the
from
Apparent
Added to
Mean Time.
Hour.
Ascension
of
Meridian.
Time.
Mean Sun.
8.
M S.
M. 8.
8.
H. M. S.
Sat
1
61.36
10 18.72
10 18 86
0.797
12 40 3.86
Sn.
2
64.41
10 37.66
10 37.80
0.785
12 44 0.41
M..
3
64.46
10 56.30
10 56.44
0.771
12 47 56.96
Tu.
4
64 51
11 14.64
11 14.78
0.758
12 51 53.51
W.
5
64 56
11 32.67
11 32.81
0.744
12 55 50.07
Th.
6
64.62
11 50.33
11 50 47
0.728
12 59 46.62
Fri
7
64.68
12 7.61
12 7.75
0.712
13 3 43.17
Sat
a
64.74
12 24.48
12 24.62
0.695
13 7 39.72
Sn.
9
64.80
12 40.93
12 41.07
0.677
13 11 36.28
M..
10
64.87
12 56.93
12 57.07 j 0.659
13 15 32.83
Tn.
n
64.94
13 12.45
13 12.59
0.638
13 19 29.38
W
12
65 01
13 27.48
13 27.63
0.617
13 23 25.94
Th
13
65.09
13 42.00
13 42.14
0.594
13 27 22.49
Fri.
14
65 17
13 55.98
13 56.11
0.571
13 31 19.04
Sat
15
65.25
14 9.41
14 9 54
0.547
13 35 15.60
Sn.
16
65.33
14 22.25
14 22.38
0.523
13 39 12.15
M..
17
65.42
14 34.50
14 34 63
0.498
13 43 8.70
Tu.
18
65 51
14 46 14
14 46.27
0.472
13 47 5.26
W.
19
65 60
14 57.15
14 57.27
0.446
13 51 1.81
Th.
20
65.69
15 7.51
15 7.62
0.419
13 54 58.36
Fri
21
65 79
15 17.22
15 17.32
0 391
13 58 54.92
Sat
22
65.88
15 26 25
15 26 34
0.362
14 2 51.47
Su
23
65.98
15 34 59
15 34.67
0.333
14 6 48.02
M.
24
66.08
15 42.24
15 42.32
0.304
14 10 44.58
Tu.
25
66 19
15 49.19
15 49.26
0.275
14 14 41.13
w.
26
66 29
15 55.43
15 55 49
0.245
1418 37.69
Th.
27
66.40
16 0.93
16 0.99
0.214
14 22 34.24
Fri.
28
66.51
16 5 69
16 5.74
0.183
14 26 30.79
Sat
29
66.62
16 9 71
16 9.75
0.152
14 30 27.35
Su.
30
66 73
16 12.97
16 13.01
0.120
14 34 23.90
M..
31
66.84
16 15.47 |
16 15.50
0.088
14 38 20.46
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.18 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same aa
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. H. M.
) FirstQuarter 1 9 19.2
© Full Moon 9 142.9
C Last Quarter 17 6 13.6
® New Moon 24 3 35.7
) FirstQuarter 30 20 1.2
D. H.
( Apogee 1121.5
{ Perigee , . 24 16 . 5
O / /'
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 . 1
h. m. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58 . 062
Point Conception 8 1 42 . 64
APPARENT APPARENT MERID.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAGE.
D. H. M. S. o ' j H. M.
Venus 1 11 29 28. 42....+ 4 51 28.7 22 50.0
Jupiter.... 1 5 43 19.72.... +22 49 56.1 17 0.6
Saturn... 1 17 29 29.26.. .. -22 16 25.6 4 48.7
AMERICAN
Vol. II.
NEW YOKK, NOVEMBEK, 1870
No. 5.
CONTENTS.
Invention, 97
Heat, * 99
The Lever Escapement, 102
Adjustments to Positions, Etc., 105
Mr. Grossman's Mercurial Pendulum, . . . 108
Files, 109
A Compensated "Wooden Pendulum, . . . . 112
Staking Tool, 113
Benzine as a Substitute for Alcohol, . . . 114
Taps and Drills, 115
Pinion Measurements 115
Repairing English Watches, 11G
Fair of the American Institute, 116
Answers to Correspondents, 119
Equation of Time Table, 120
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box G715, New York
City. Publication OJice 229 Broadway, Boom 19.
INVENTION.
Thousands of vigorous, inventive minds
are "wearing themselves out planning and de-
vising new combinations, new machines, and
new compounds, and fortunes are spent, fond
hopes blasted, friends wearied out, and
homes made desolate by the fruitless labor of
invention ; years of study and costly experi-
ment result, perhaps, in an application for a
patent on a really valuable discovery, credit-
able alike to the inventive talent and the per-
severing industry of the inventor, but all,
alas, too late. When hope is soaring in the
sunlight, its wings are suddenly palsied, and
the light extinguished, by the information
that the child of invention is a hundred or
more years old.
This deplorable result, so crushing to the
hopes and fortune of the inventor, is no fault
of his ; it is simply the result of ignorance of
■what has been done long previous to his
time. Had he been better informed, or shown
his first conception to some one better
posted as to what had transpired in the
■world of invention, all these disasters might
have been avoided, and the amount of men-
tal labor thus lost turned in a direction where
better results might have been obtained.
Undoubtedly it is impossible for every inven-
tor to be so well read as to know all that has
heretofore been discovered. Not even the
best read can say that there is no invention
of which they are not informed ; but what-
ever information can be obtained that bears
upon the study under pursuit, wall be of de-
cided advantage, and may result in averting
the provoking result of re-discovering old in-
ventions.
We have seen recently several advances
made in the direction of affording assistance
to inventors. One is the publication of " 507
Mechanical Movements."* Such a work can
be eminently useful in two ways : one in
showing what has been done, and the other
by furnishing to the inventor's hand, ready
made, the very devise he desires in some con-
struction he is laboring on. The idea has
also been advanced to create a museum of
machinery ; not completed machines, which
would be impossible, but a working model of
all the various devices for producing me-
chanical effects ; a collection where every
known method of applying the principle of
the lever is illustrated in working models,
every plan for changing linear to rotary mo-
tion, every invention for the accumulation of
force, every means by which it has been
transmitted, or its direction changed, etc.,
etc. Such a collection of models would be
but an alphabet of machinery, from which
the inventor could elaborate machines to an
extent limited only by his inventive ability,
and save his own mind the wear and tear of
studying out means to produce such effects
as he desired in his proposed constructions.
We have been led into this channel of
thought by the multifarious plans constantly
brought to our notice for compensating pen-
dulums. Not a week passes that does not
bring a new solution of the problem ; very
* Published by Brown, Coombs k Co., office of the "American
Artizan," 189 Broadway, New Yo;k. Price, One Dollar.
98
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
few of them ought to be called new — most of
them dating back as far as Graham and El-
liott, and scarcely any possessing sufficient
advantages over old ones to make them de-
sirable. Could we spare the space, we think
it would be useful to give a description and
drawing of all the known forms, as a guide
to investigation ; it might save many a man
profitless brain-work — mental labor which he
could spend in inventive research in paths
not already well worn and dusty with pre-
vious travel— in research which would have
a better prospect of resulting in good to
himself and the world.
Escapements, also, seem to have received a
very large share of attention; no branch of
horological mechanics seems more seductive
than this, and the quantity of escapements
invented is endless ; every one seems gifted
with the faculty of originating new ones, and
there is probably not a single workman in the
country but what has had a try at it. An old
clockmaker once offered, on a wager, to invent
a new escapement every morning before break-
fast for a month. Inventions seem so easy to
some minds ; they see no difficulties in the
way ; everything is clear ; a few principles
adhered to, and the thing is done. Let us
see how it works. We will quote from Mr.
Nicholson's observations, which are as appli-
cable now as they were in 1798 : " We will
suppose a very acute theorist, who is not him-
self a workman, nor in the habit of superin-
tending the practical execution of machinery,
to have conceived the notion of some new
combination of mechanical powers to produce
a determinate effect ; and for the sake of
p irspicuifcy let us take the example of a ma-
chine to cut files. His first conception will be
very simple or abstracted. He knows that
the notches in a file are cut with a chisel
driven by the blows of a hammer by a man
whose hands are employed in applying those
instruments, while his foot is exerted in hold-
ing the file on an anvil by means of a strap.
Hence he concludes that it must be a very easy
operation to fix the chisel in a machine, and
cause it to rise and fall by a lever, while a
tilting hammer of the proper size and figure
gives the blow. But as his attention becomes
fixed, other demands arise, and the subject
expanis before him. The file must be sup-
ported on a bed, or mass of iron, or wood, or
lead or other material ; it must be fixed, either
by screws or wedges, or weights, or some
other ready and effectual contrivance, and the
file itself, or else the chisel with its apparatus
for striking, must be moved through equal de-
terminate spaces during the interval between
stroke and stroke, which may be done either
by a ratchet-wheel, or other escapement, or by
a screw. He must examine all these objects
and his stock of means in detail, fix upon
such methods as he conceives most deserving
of preference, combine, organize, and arrange
the whole in his mind, for which purpose
solitude, darkness, and no small degree of
mental effort will be required ; and when this
process is considerably advanced he must
have recourse to his drawing-board. Meas-
ured plans and sections will then show many
things which his imagination before disre-
garded. New arrangements to be made, and
unforeseen difficulties to be overcome, will
infallibly present themselves. The first con-
ception, or what the world calls invention,
required an infinitely small portion of the
ability he must now exert.
" We ^will 'suppose, however, that he has
completed his drawings ; still he possesses
the form of a machine only ; but whether it
shall answer his purpose depends on his know-
ledge of his materials; stone, wood, brass, lead,
iron forged or cast, and steel in all its various
modifications, are before him. The general
process of the workshop, by which firmness,
truth, and accuracy alone are to be obtained,
and those methods of treatment, chemical as
well as mechanical, which the several articles
demand, these, and numberless others, which
may either lead to success, or by their defi-
ciency expose him to the ignorance or ob-
stinacy of his workmen. If he should find
his powers deficient under a prospect so
arduous ; if he cannot submit to the severe
discipline of seeing his plans reversed, and
his hopes repeatedly deferred ; if unsuc-
cessful experiment should produce anguish,
without affording instruction, what then will
remain for him to do ? Will he embitter
his life by directing his incessant efforts, his
powers and resources, to a fascr'nating object
in which his difficulties daily increase, or will
he make a strong exertion of candor and
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
id
fortitude which will lead him to abandon it
at once *?"
There are cases, however, in which the pro-
foundest knowledge of primary principles and
previous practice has not saved the inventor
years of toil and millions of money ; neither
is the voyage of invention always plain sail-
ing and calm weather. The poor inventor,
however differently he may think, is often not
more sorely beset by difficulties than he who
has money and mind at unlimited command.
Knowledge sometimes gives great advantage
to its possessor in the prosecution of inven-
tion, and yet it sometimes leads one far astray.
Bessemer was a remarkable illustration of this;
scientific analysis had shown steel to be a
compound of carbon and iron, in proportions
which might vary from forty to two hundred
per cent, and yet be merchantable steel; and
cast or pig iron differed from steel only by
containing more carbon; and that malleable or
wrought iron was made so by entirely decar-
bonizing the pig. The inference very naturally
arose, that steel should be produced at some
point short of total decarbonization ; and that
instead of costing more than wrought iron, it
ought to cost less.
Reasoning upon all these fads, Mr. Bessemer
assumed that stopping the decarbonizing
process at the proper point was the thing ;
and all there was to do to effect this de-
sirable change was to stop the decarbonizing
process at the proper moment. But, with all
his science, he never succeeded in making a
pound of merchantable steel. What was the
matter ? Analysis of his product showed the
proper percentage of carbon to form steel,
but it was iron still. Failure followed failure,
and any man with less means and perseve-
rance would have given up the chase. Still he
toiled on, and his researches brought him to
the very method that experience had discover-
ed and successfully practised for years, namely,
to wholly decarbonize the iron and then re-
carbonize. The first condition he accomplished
by the hot blast, and the second by adding a
definite quantity of spiegeleisen to supply the
carbon necessary for conversion to steel. Had
he known in the beginning all that he after-
wards found out, years of expensive experience
would have been avoided. The facts which
are now known to have prevented his success
at first are, that the pig iron contained other
substances than carbon, which must be elim-
inated before steel can be produced. Silicon,
phosphorus, and sulphur maintain their hold
upon iron with the greatest tenacity, and any
known process by which they can be separa-
ted, will also completely decarbonize the iron,
which must of course be re-carbonized to pro-
duce steel. The books taught only part of
the process — practical experience, the rest ;
but together they show clearly why steel can-
not be produced cheaper than iron.
Thus we see the necessity for theory and
practice to go hand in hand, — and when
the trinity is completed by the addition of
money, they together form a foundation on
which a superstructure of any extent may be
built, which will not only be a glory in itself,
but a blessing to the world.
HKAT.
NUMBER FOUR.
INCREASE OF VOLUME IN SUBSTANCES BY HEAT DO
METALS BECOME PERMANENTLY ELONGATED
CHANGE OF THE ZERO POINT IN THERMOMETERS
CONDUCTION AND REFLECTION OF HEAT FAMIL-
IAR EXAMPLES — HEAT TRANSMITTED THROUGH
MERCURY BY CONVECTION — REMARKS ON COMPEN-
SATING PENDULUMS, ETC.
It is a general, though not a universal law*,
that when a metallic body increases in temper-
ature it also expands in volume, or dilates, and
that when it diminishes in temperature its-
volume contracts, and that when restored to
its original temperature it resumes its original
volume, or nearly so. Under the same aug-
mentation of heat, different solids expand
very differently. Certain crystals, as flu or
spar, aragonite, etc., expand more than any
of the metals which are frequently marked
first ; and the rate of the expansion of ice,
could it be observed through the same range,
is greater than that of any metal between
32° and 212°, being one part in 287- Wood
expands chiefly in a direction transverse to
its fibres, and very little in length ; and hence
wood, as well as lucullite (a species of marble
found in Egypt), has been used for pendulum
rods. The contraction of bodies upon cooling
is sometimes not so great as their previous
expansion — perhaps it is never so. great.. Heat
100
AMERICAN H0R0L9GICAL JOURNAL.
expands bodies by insinuating itself between
the particles of these bodies, forcing them
asunder, and causing them to occupy a greater
space. Heat, therefore, opposes cohesion.
Solids, in which cohesion is strongest, expand
the least under the influence of heat ; liquids
having less cohesion expand more ; gases and
vapors, in which cohesion is entirely wanting,
expand most. Clay may be taken as an
exception to heat expanding all solids ; it is
contracted by baking, and ever afterwards
remains so ; this is supposed to be owing
to a chemical change produced in the clay
by heat. It is certain that under pecu-
liar conditions some metals become per-
manently elongated by repeated heating.
The familiar example of the old bars of a fire
grate, when they are rigidly fastened at both
ends, becoming distorted, as we often see
them, as well as another household example
of lead pipes conveying hot water, have been
found lengthened and thrown into curves after
several weeks' use, does in a great measure
prove this. Some of our readers would prob-
ably notice in No. 11, Vol. I., a correspond-
ent suggests that this permanent elongation
of metals through the influence of heat might
be the cause of some of the irregularities of
pendulums, especially the Harrison one.
Whether this permanent elongation of metals
takes place in the comparatively small changes
of temperature which a pendulum is subjected
to, as it sometimes does in metals subjected
to a boiling, or appx-oaching to a melting heat,
we have not as yet any reliable means of
ascertaining, although we have given the sub-
ject much attention. "We have never observed
any case, or heard of any complaint or well
authenticated instance, where fine clocks have
increased their losing rate in the same ratio
as the clocks increased in age, which would
be the natural result to be looked for, were
the metals which compose the pendulum
affected in the above manner ; still, the idea
we consider is one worthy of the attention of
those who are studying this important sub-
ject, as it is evident that for the higher class
of purposes the very best pendulums have yet
to be improved.
The fact of bodies or metals, when exposed
to very high temperatures, not resuming their
former bulk when cooling, may be attributed
to the fact that when they are cooled very
suddenly, in most cases their particles have
not had time to bring themselves into the
condition proper to the reduced temperature,
and in consequence the substance is in a state
of constraint, and continues so often for a
length of time. This is probably the cause of
the change of the zero point in a mercurial
thermometer, for when such an instrument
has been graduated shortly after the filling
of the bulb, this poirt may change in a few
years as much as nearly 3° Fahr., but this is
believed to be the full limit of the change.
When an instrument is made and filled, the
bulb is suddenly heated and suddenly cooled,
and hence its particles ha\e not had time to
approach so near to one another as they
would have done if the process of cooling ha 1
been very gradual; and had the bulb been
laid past and kept for some time before gra-
duation, and also had it been well annealed,
the change would have been less ; neverthe-
less, with all this precaution the error may
amount in the course of five or six years to
several tenths of a degree. Besides this pro-
gressive and permanent change, there is also
a temporary one produced by heating and
suddenly cooling the instrument when in ac-
tual use. For example, if a thermometer has,
first of all, its freezing point determined by
melting ice, then be plunged into boiling
water, and suddenly withdrawn, and finally
again plunged into the ice water, the freezing
point will be found to have changed, and the
instrument may read 31.8° and will not re-
cover its true reading till several weeks have
elapsed. The same kind of error may be
introduced into the barometer, when the sys-
tem is practised of boiling the mercury in th i
tube to drive the air out. We have frequently
noticed steel articles become sensibly larger
after being hardened, and it is well known t)
all workers in glass and metals that the
articles we form from the heated or molten
material require to be very carefully an 1
slowly cooled or annealed in order to brinjf
them to their solid state, or their natural
density ; and thus it appears that time is aa
important element in the cooling of bodi ■ \
and with this reservation it may not pei/.apt
be erroneous to assert that a metallic bodj
heated and very slowly cooled will regain it*
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
101
original volume on regaining its original
temperature.
Having made some allusion in this article
to the question of compensating a pendulum
as near as possible to perfection, the present
mar, perhaps, be a proper time to notice
some other points to be considered in con-
nection with this important subject. In last
number we noticed how heat was conveyed
through metals by conduction. The follow-
ing table, showing the capacities of several
of the metals for conducting heat, is taken
from Professor Tyndall's work on Heat, con-
sidered as a mode of motion :
Silver
Gold
100.
74.
53.
24.
. 15.
12.
Lead
Platinum
11.7
9.
. 8.
Tin
German silver. .
. 6.
2.
This table differs from many of the older
ones published, which up to late years were
accepted as correct, in which gold was con-
sidered to be the best conductor of heat, and
platinum and silver the next in order, being
considered very little inferior to gold. How-
ever the process by which the authors of this
table have res ched the above results differed
essentially from their predecessors in that
line of experiment, and is entirely devoid of
any theoretical assumption, being reached by
actual experiment with the aid of a small
thermo-electric pile, the most delicate and
accurate of all known instruments for meas-
uring heat or testing its progress through
bodies. As all metals have a certain capacity
for conducting heat, so have they for reflect-
ing it under favorable conditions of their sur-
faces. Highly polished and light colored
surfaces reflect best. For instance, fire irons,
if brightly polished, will remain comparative-
ly cool, notwithstanding their proximity to
the fire, while if rough and unpolished they
will become too hot to be touched. Water
contained in a burnished silver pitcher can with
difficulty be heated, even while placed directly
before the fire, while the same amount of
water in a rough iron kettle at an equal dis-
tance from the fire would speedily be made
to boil. Nor is it necessary that the protect-
ing surface should be of any great thickness.
The thinnest coating of a bright metal reflects
heat as perfectly as a solid metallic plate of the
same metal. A mere covering of gold leaf
will enable a person to place his finger within
a very short distance of red hot iron or otlu r
red hot metal, while the hand would be burned
at ten times the distance, if unprotected. If
a piece of red hot iron be held over a sheet
of paper upon which some letters have been
gilded, the uncovered intervals will be scorched
while the letters will remain untarnished.
If the bulb of a thermometer be covered with
tin foil it will remain comparatively unaffected
by change of temperature. The polished
metallic helmet and cuirass worn by soldiers
are cooler than might be imagined, because
the polished metal throws off the rajs of the
sun, and cannot easily be raised to an incon-
venient temperature. Taking advantage of
these properties for the reflection of heat off
metals, Mr. John Gowans, a partner in the
firm of Blunt & Co., of this city, has for some
time past been coating his pendulums with a
thin covering of nickel. This, as our readers
are aware, presents a bright whitish surface,
susceptible of a very high polish, and conse-
quently presents the most favorable surface
for the reflection of the heat from off the
pendulum, and has also the additional prop-
erty of being unaffected by rust should the
clock be placed in a situation liable to damp-
ness.
Having every thing in its favor, with no
counteracting disadvantage, we hail this as
an important step in the right direction
towards destroying some of the causes of the
many little errors that are in all pendulums,
and that only appear visible in clocks of the
very best construction, where the larger errors
do not exist to drown the small ones.
Another important point in connection with
the mercurial pendulum is the capacity of
mercury for conducting or conveying heat.
We have taken considerable pains to deter-
mine exactly the value of the conducting
power of mercury. In all the chemical author-
ities we have at our command, both in the
English and French languages, we never meet
with mercury in the tables of the thermal
conductivity of heat; for, mercury being a
liquid, heat is conveyed through its particles
by convection, and convection depends upon
102
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
two things. In the first place it depends on
the extent liquids expand under heat ; thus,
for instance, if a body hardly expanded at all?
its convection -would be very feeble. In the
second place, convection depends on the
force of gravity ; for were there no gravity
there could be no convection. We have no
direct means of ascertaining exactly the capa-
city of mercury for conveying heat ; but if we
reason from analogy, and assume that the
density of metals bear a relation to their
powers of conduction, and also that the prop-
erties for conducting heat and electricity are
nearly the same in all metals, then mercury
must be a very good conductor of heat ; prob-
ably as good as silver or copper. It seems
to us that this fact of heat being transmitted
by conduction through steel, and by convec-
tion through mercury, has an important bear-
ing on the calculations of a mercurial pendu-
lum, and in some measure affects the
compensation as regards the time each body
takes to expand or to contract ; and this idea5
so far as we are aware, is a new one.
The expansion and contraction of the jar
that holds the mercury, and somewhat affects
the rise and fall of the mercury column, being
difficult to correctly determine, we will con-
clude the present article by presenting a
method by which this object may be accu-
rately obtained, which is also new for this
purpose. Take a glass jar of a given size and
cleanse it thoroughly, and fill it with mercury,
without air specks being in any part of it.
The jar will be found to hold, at 32° Fahr.,
say 10169.3 grains of mercury (about the
amount used in a heavy seconds pendulum),
while at 212° it only holds 10011.4 grains.
Now it is known that the expansion of mer-
cury between 32° and 212° is .018153 ; that
is to say, a quantity of this fluid occupying a
given volume equal to unity at 32° will at
212° occupy a volume =1.018153. Hence the
weight of mercury occupying a given volume
at '212°, will bear to that occupying the same
volume at 32°, the proportion of 1: 1.018153;
and hence (had the jar not expanded) the
weight of mercury filling it at 212° would
-J ai n(\ o
have been 1 01al5a= 9987.9 grains. But the
glass jar having expanded, it holds 10011.4
grains, or 23.5 grains more than it would have
held had there been no expansion. The
volume of the expanded jar will therefore
bear to that of the same jar at 32p, the ratio
of 10011.4 to 9987.9, or of 1.00235 to 1 ; and
hence the expansion of the jar between 32° and
212° will be .00235.
THE LEVEE ESCAPEMENT.
NUMBER TWO.
The action of the lever and roller is that
action of the mechanism of the lever escape-
ment which communicates to the balance the
motion created by the wheel and pallet, as
described in the preceding article on this
subject. There are many ways of accom-
plishing this action ; but as we intend strictly
to adhere to the rule of giving the princijiles
of this escapement, for the reasons previously
mentioned, we will content ourselves by giv-
ing the two most common forms of accom-
plishing this action, viz.: that having the
ruby pin and safety roller in one piece, com-
monly called the table roller, and that having
the ruby pin and safety roller in two pieces,
commonly termed double roller. The action
of the lever and roller embodies two distinct
functions — that of propulsion, and that of
imlocking — which will be better understood
from the following description :
The lever, being solidly joined to the pallet,
forming, as it were, one piece, is forced to
communicate the impulse derived from the
action of the wheel on the pallet to the
balance, by means of the ruby pin, acted upon
by the slot in the lever. If we suppose the
ruby pin to have been carried to the extreme
degree of the lifting arc on either side of the
lever (that is, if the drawing tooth has already
dropped from the driving plane on either arm
of the pallet), the balance will then be de-
tached from the other parts of the escape-
ment, and will be free to make its entire arc
of vibration, effected by the impulse derived.
This is the function of impulsion. The di-
mensions of the arc of vibration will be com-
paratively equal to the weight of the balance
and the strength of the hair-spring.
When the balance has reached the extreme
degree of the arc of vibration, it will be
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
103
acted upon by the tension of the hair-spring,
thereby causing a return vibration of the
balance. As soon as the ruby pin touches
the slot, the lever, and, necessarily, the pallet
along with it, follow the impulse far enough
to withdraw the locking face, on which a
tooth is resting. The tooth thus released
begins its impulse on that arm of the pallet,
and which is, of course, communicated to the
balance by the lever and the ruby pin. The
impulse continues until the tooth has slid
across the face of the driving plane, and
dropped therefrom on to the other arm of the
pallet — which action is continuous. From
this it will be seen that the action of the
lever and roller is alternately to communicate
impulse derived, and to unlock. As the
watch is subject to almost continual external
motion, it is therefore of the greatest im-
portance to provide a means by which the
lever, when at rest, may be kept in position,
so that when the return vibration of the
balance brings the ruby pin to 'the place
where the connection is to be made, it may
not find a vacant place ; the lever, meanwhile,
being on the opposite side, and the ruby pin,
instead of working into the slot, striking the
outer edge of the lever, causing the watch to
slop, and very likely a breakage of the ruby
pin, and giving rise to the expression " over-
banked." (From this it will be seen that
when the roller is too small, overbanking will
result. ) The prevention of this is called the
safety action, and consists of a perfectly
round disk of steel, having a hollow filed in
it directly above the ruby piu, and is solidly
adjusted to the balance staff ; and a pin or
abutment on the lever placed immediately
above and in the centre of the slot. The
action of this is obvious. The lever being at
rest on either side, it will remain so by the
pin striking the edge of the roller when dis-
turbed by violent external motion, but imme-
diately returning from such position by the
action of the " draw," as described in the
previous article. The action of tho " draw,"
if not properly controlled, would also bring
the lever out of position, but in a contrary
manner to that of the safety action, by caus-
ing the lever to pass out of reach (for con-
nection ) of the ruby pin on a return vibration
of the balance from the roller. This means
of control is termed the " banking " arrange-
ment, and consists of two pins, placed at a
proper distance from each other, equally on
each side of the lever, so that the lever will
be enabled to give the whole amount of im-
pulse derived, and yet not pass out of reach
of the ruby pin on its return vibration.
The original lever escapement, as invented
by Mudge, had the ruby pin and safety roller
composed of two pieces. At one time this
was supposed not to be a very good arrange-
ment, consequently the table roller was sub-
stituted. Later, however, the original plan
was adopted as the best for the purpose de-
signed. The reason why the safet}r roller and
the ruby pin is best in two separate pieces is
thus : the safety roller, in this instance, being
always one-third the diameter of the ruby
roller, is affected far less by external motion
than the roller and the ruby pin in one piece,
for the safety roller being smaller, the fric-
tion occasioned by the safety pin rubbing
against the edge of the safety roller, when
disturbed by external motion, will be lessened,
as the friction is applied at a less distance
from the balance centre.
Our task will now be to determine the size
of the roller (in both instances), the place for
the ruby pin, the size of the lever, etc., etc.,
for any given distance of centres, considering
first the one having the ruby pin and safety
roller in one piece.
First determine the distance between the
centre of lever and centre of balance, in-
crease the dimensions by ten or fifteen times,
and connect them by line K, as in Fig. 1 ;
then take 11|°, the whole movement of lever
or pallet (as determined in the preceding
article), and draw half of this, 5|°, on each
side of the line K from the centre of lever B,
and mark the lines t. Next, determine the
lifting angle of the balance, which, in this
case, as an example, is 40°, and which proceed
to draw from the centre of balance A to 20°
each side of the line K,and mark the lines thus
drawn g; from where the lines g cross the
lines t, draw a circle I, which indicates the
place for the ruby pin n. Next proceed to
determine the breadth of the ruby pin, which
in all cases must be one-third the space be-
tween two teeth of the escape wheel. To de-
termine the working sides of the slot in the
10 i
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
level', draw a curve m from the centre of lever
B, so that it will cross the point where the
lines t and g, and the circle /, cross each other,
which indicate the place where the horns of
the lever u are to be drawn from, and are to
be drawn thus : From the centre of lever B
mark off the dots p, 1|° distant from the lines
/, and place one leg of the compass on one of
these dots, and draw the curve u of the op-
posite horn, proceeding in like manner with
the other horn.
To determine the actual length of the
lever, that is from the point or abutment r
to the centre B, the hollow in the roller for
the passage of the abutment r must be above
the ruby pin far enough to allow the latter
to sit solidly in its place, and must have a
breadth of 10° or 12°, and the point of the
abutment r must be 1° or 1^° distant from
the deepest part of the hollow, which we de-
termine by the curve b drawn from the centre
of lever B, as shown in the figure, and from
the point where the lines t cross the curve b
we draw the circle or roller R. Now proceed
to determine the place for the banking pins
or abutments q, the positions of which are en-
tirely dependent upon the shape of the lever.
The easiest way to determine this i3 to sup-
pose the ruby pin to be carried around to a
point where the abutment r will rest on the
roller R ; in such a position 1|° or 2° distant
(requisite shake) from the outer edge of the
lever s will give the proper place for the
banking pins or abutments.
We will now consider the lever and roller
action, having the ruby pin roller, and safety
roller separate. First, fix upon the distance
between the centre of lever and centre of bal-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
1C5
lance, increase the dimension ten or fifteen
times, and mark on paper A and B, connect-
ing them by line K, Fig. 2 ; take the whole
movement of the lever (or pallet), 11|°, and
draw them from the centre of lever B, 5|° on
each side of link K, and mark t. We propose
the lifting angles to be 40°, which are drawn
from the centre of balance A, 20° on each
side of the link K and mark g; from the point
where the lines g cross the lines t we draw
a circle /, which, indicates the place for the
ruby pin n, which must be one-third the
space between two teeth of the escape wheel ;
then mark off the dotsjp, 1° distant from the
lines t, on a curve through the balance centre
A from the lever centre B. To determine
the slot in the lever, draw a curve m from
the lever centre B, so that it will cross the spot
where the lines t and g and the circle I cross
each other ; the slot should have a breadth
1° greater than that of the ruby pin (requi-
site play), and is marked off on the curve m,
from these points are drawn the curves u
from an opposite dot;;, forming the horns of
the lever.
We next determine the actual size of the
lever — that is, from the lever centre B to the
point of the safety pin n, thus : the diameter
of the safety roller w being § that of the ruby
pin roller R, it will therefore require a hollow
of 36° to 38° for the safe passage of the safety
pin r (the safety roller being smaller and the
lever larger); from the point where the lines
t eross the circle or safety roller xo, draw from
the lever centre B a curve b ; the spot where
this curve crosses the line K is the place for
the point of the safety pin or abutment r; the
deepest part of the roller must be 1° from
the point r. The method of determining the
proper place of the banking pin q, is the same
as in Fig. 1. To determine the actual size of
each part, it only remains to diminish each
part as many times as the original centre
distance was increased.
It is deemed unnecessary to give the com-
bination of the action of lever and roller with
that of wheel and pallet, as there are so many
of these combinations, each differing from
the other ; some having the pallets at right
angles from, and others in a line with, the
lever, while others are placed at some other
angle ; but it matters not whether it be at
right angles or in a straight line ; the prin-
ciple is always the same, and can in no way
be altered by any angularity of the pallet to
the lever. There are many repairers imbued
with the idea that the so-called straight bne
lever is the best, as the best watches with this
escapement are planned straight line. This
is erroneous,]as they are so planned only be-
cause it makes an elegant appearance.
Charles Spiro.
ADJUSTMENTS TO POSITIONS, ISOCHUONISM
AND COMPENSATION.
NUMBER ONE.
The importance of a thorough apprehen-
sion of the principles involved in seeking for
the above adjustments, and the interest which
is everywhere felt among the trade concern-
ing them, must be the writer's excuse for so-
liciting the attention of the readers of the
Journal.
In reasoning upon these subjects, the theme
of articles already published in the columns
of the Journal, and particularly in the contri-
butions of Chas. Spiro, for which Ave would, on
behalf of the trade express our grateful ac-
knowledgments, we do not propose to present
anything original or new — anything which
nobody else knows — but shall simply endeav-
or to investigate the principles involved in,
and to copy and translate from the writings
of eminent foreign horologists, and particu-
larly from Prof. Phillips, Jurgensen and
others, such data as will contribute to make
the subjects clear and intelligible to the minds
of those interested in them.
The main principles of the isochronism of
the hair-spring have already been clearly set
forth by Mr. Spiro, but in our opinion, in or-
der to obtain the bests results of isochroni&m
the adjustment to position ought to precede
in the order. There is nothing so necessary
to the successful accomplishment of so tedious
a work, as logical reasoning. Practical ho-
rology is nothing less than a physico-mathe-
matical science, and it becomes necessary for
the workman to educate himself to the use
of these sciences, if he does not wish to
waste much time and talent. Although ^heo-
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AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
reticaly, and according to Prof. Phillips, the
isochronisin of a spring can be found without
the application of an escapement,yet in practice
this would hardly ever be done ; it is much
more likely that that adjustment is undertak-
en only with a watch in a finished state, and
when every other part has been carefully
brought to as near perfection as possible. The
best writers, too, concur in the opinion, that,
although by the application of an isochronal
hair-spring to the balance any irregularities
resulting from unequal friction in different
positions could theoretically be entirely over-
come, it is nevertheless of the greatest im-
portance that those irregularities should first
be removed as nearly as possible by a judici-
ous adjustment to positions. If a lever watch
is to be adjusted to positions, one of the first
conditions necessary is, that the fork and
lever, as well as the escape wheel be perfectly
poised. On this point the opinions of all the
best writers and most experienced artisans,
such as J. H. Martens, M. Grossmann and
others, agree ; and in fact in the best move-
ments of foreign manufacture the condition
is fulfilled ; but since there is such a great
number of watches wanting this condition,
and some of them the productions of highly re-
putable manufacturers, and since even among
our own home manufacturers the necessity
of establishing the equipoise of the lever in
their escapements seems to be partially over-
looked, let us investigate the matter a little
closer ; and for this purpose we beg leave to
draw the attention of the reader for a moment
to the principles of the mechanical lever.
The simplest form of a lever is a straight
rod, supposed to be inflexible and without
weight, resting on a fixed point somewhere in
its length, about which it can freely turn, and
having two forces applied, one on each of the
extremities of the rod. The fixed point on
which it rests, and about which it can turn,
is called the fulcrum ; one of the forces applied
to it is called the poioer, and the other the
weight. The distances of the points of appli-
cation of the power and weight from the ful-
crum are called the arms of the lever. If,
now, we imagine such a lever in the shape of
a beam thirteen feet long, and the fulcrum be a
foot from one end, an ounce placed on the
long arm will balance a pound [troy weight)
on the short arm ; and the least additional
weight, or the slightest push or pressure on
the long arm thus loaded, will make the pound
on the short arm move upwards. If, instead
of a pound, we place upon the short arm of
this lever the long arm of a second lever,
whose fulcrum is one foot from its short end,
and then place the short arm of this second
lever upon the long arm of a third lever,
supported by a fulcrum one foot from its end,
and each of the three levers is thirteen feet
long, then an ounce on the first lever's long
arm will balance a weight of one hundred and
forty- four pounds on the third lever's short
arm. Now, let us apply the principle to the
train of a watch ; each of the wheels and pin-
ions of which are nothing more nor less than
such levers ; the pivots being the fulcrum s,
the radii of the pinions the short arms, and
the radii of the wheels the long arms, and let
us suppose the leverage power of each at
equilibrium to be as 1 to 8, and further-
more that the force of the main-spring actirg
upon the short arm of the first lever (centre-
wheel pinion) is as the weight of one pound,
then one-eighth of a pound will balance it at
the circumference of the centre wheel, -gL at
the circumference of the third wheel, --i^ at
the circumference of the fourth wheel, and
4 ^9 e> or one grain and ^f of a grain at the
circumference of the escape wheel. If now,
the lever, together with the fork, should weigh
three grains, and this weight be distributed
so that two grains should be on one side of
its axis and one on the other, it will be appa-
rent that, while the unequal poise could net
arrest the motive power, owing to the freedom
of the lever on ii s axis, and the great purchase
which it has upon the pallet arms, it would at
least occasion very great irregularity in the
transmission of it to the balance — in many
cases endangering the lockings — and never
could such a watch run in all positions alike.
One of the consequences of unequal poise in
the lever is, that the watch, though the hair-
spring may be properly fastened, will always
sound as if it were out of beat. We may, by
reasoning in this way, not only be able to ap-
preciate the evil consequences of unequal
poise in the lever, but also the importance of
making them as light as a certain solidity
will permit.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
107
But we will suppose a watch perfect iu this
particular and proceed to investigate the
means of adjusting it to position. So far as
we know, two theories have been advanced on
this subject ; the one resting upon the principle
of governing the motion of the balance by
means of the screws applied as compensating
weights, the other upon that of equal friction
in all positions. According to the former
theory the balance is actually thrown out of
poise in this way : when the watch goes fast
in a hanging position, one or more of the
screws of the balance which are on the top of
it when it is in equilibrium and the watch is in a
hanging position, is moved a little further out
from the centre, which will cause the balance
to describe greater arcs of vibrations in that
position, and consequently make it go slower.
Now it is evident that the advocates of this
theory do not suppose an isochronal hair-
spring to be in such a watch, and if that is
the case the effect of such an operation might
be a contrary one, for it might just as well
happen that an increase of motion would make
it go faster ; would the fact of its going faster
in a hanging position indicate less friction ?
and even were this operation to have the
desired effect in that position, how would it be
if the watch were reversed ? At best the
practice is a violation of the law of the com-
pensation balance — the perfect equipoise —
which is most strongly inculcated, to advo-
cate which no good workman should be guilty
of doing. We propose to adjust a watch to
position according to principles which shall be
independent of, and not interfere with or
destroy, any other adjustment in the watch ;
and that we deem can only be done according
to the principles of equal friction.
Ernest Sandoz, in his " Practical Methods
of Accurately Adjusting Watches," bases his
theory on the same principles, but in his
practice he goes equally wrong to effect an
increase of friction, by throwing the hair-spring
a little out of centre. It probably did not
occur to him that he thus destroys an
essential condition of the isochronism of the
spring.
We know of no better way of adjusting a
watch to position than by the pivots of the
balance. J. H. Martens gives the following
rules for this adjustment, which in the main
have already been mentioned by Mr. Spiro,
but which we beg leave to repeat :
" 1st. The pivots of the balance must have
" the least possible diameter which the weight
"and size of the balance will permit, must be
" well hardened and polished so as to cause
" the least possible friction in the jewel holes.
" 2nd. Jewels with olive-shaped holes must
" be used for the balance, in which the friction
" is much smaller than in cylindrical ones.
" 3d. The ends of the pivots must be made
" almost entirely flat, by means of which the
" friction in a horizontal position of the watch
" can be made equal to that in a vertical
"position.
" 4th. It is necessary that the utmost care
"be had in fastening the hair-spring to a
" proper height from the balance, and its coils
" regularly concentric to its axis, in order to
"insure perfect freedom in its vibration."
If these four conditions be carefully observed,
we will endeavor to show that the adjustment
can be accomplished by varying the third.
This theory rests upon producing equal
friction in all positions. If, then, we present
equal surfaces of the pivots to friction, the
object must be attained. The end of the
pivot being flat, to know the area of surface
it presents to friction, we must measure its
diameter and multiply it by 3.14, and we will
have the circumference of the pivot, which is
also the circumference of the circle of the flat
surface of the. pivot, the area of which we
wish to know. Now, the area of a circle is
equal to the circumference, multiplied by half
its radius; and if we measure half the radius
of the pivot on its length, it is evident that
we have, on the circumference of the pivot,
the same square area as on the flat end (if
the pivots are'conical, full or more than twice
this length on each must be perfectly cylin-
drical) ; this would present an equal surface
to friction, as well on the side of the pivot as
on the end of it ; but when the watch runs
in a horizontal position— that is, on the end
of the pivot — the flat surface of the pivot rubs
against an equal flat surface on the end stone;
whereas, when it runs in a vertical one — that
is, on the side of the pivot — the same surface,
owing to the shape of the pivot hole, only
rubs against a single point, and though this
is in a measure balanced by two such sur-
1 ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
faces, one on each pivot, rubbing thus against
points, nevertheless the friction in that posi-
tion of the watch will be much less than on
the end of the pivot, whereby the arcs of vi-
brations of the balance will be increased.
Now, before attempting to equalize the
friction, the balance must be perfectly poised;
and to test whether this condition is entirely
established in it, it should be laid with its
pivots on two upright steels, brought to a
knife-edge, perfectly level and polished on
top ; on such an apparatus, if a perfect equi-
librium is not established in the balance, it
will show itself — there being no friction in the
rolling of the pivots on these edges— and
must be corrected. All the preceding con-
ditions being complied with, and the watch
is running, observe the arcs of vibration in
both horizontal and vertical position ; if they
are greater in the vertical position, it indicates
less friction, and this cannot well be increased
in that position, or we do not wish to increase
it ; we therefore decrease it in the horizontal
position by rounding off the ends of the pivots
a little ; each pivot must thus be separately ad-
justed, until in all positions the arcs of vibra-
tion are the same, which will indicate equal
friction n all. It will be seen that we may thus
approximate isochronism, even without estab-
lishing it in the hair-spring, and experience has
amply proved to us that a watch thus adjusted
will, except under irregular external influ-
ences, run in all positions very nearly alike.
In the next number we purpose giving a
translation of Professor Phillip's theory of the
terminal curves necessary to establish isochro-
nism. HOROLOGIST.
o
MR. GROSSMAN'S MERCURIAL PENDULUM.
We have received from Mr. Grossman tho
following diagram of his mercurial pendu-
lum, as compared with the Graham pendu-
lum, both being one-sixth the actual size of
a seconds pendulum.
He has also promised another article on
the subject for the next number of the Jour-
nal. We regret to learn that the state of his
wife's health is such as to ieave no hopes for
her recovery, and are sure that he will ie-
ceive the sympathy of our readers as well as
our own.
AMEEICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
109
FILES.
It may not be uninteresting to many of
our readers to know something more about
files than their use. They are very exten-
sively manufactured at heme as well as
abroad, and their commercial value is com-
mensurate with their world-wide utility.
There is scarcely any branch of manufacture
where they are not required ; the humblest
occupation can scarcely be continued without
using a file of some form.
The varieties of files are almost endless,
depending as they do upon the uses they are
to be put to. They may vary in length from
those we use, say three-quarters of an inch
to three feet and more. "Watchmakers' files
are perhaps as varied in their form and char-
acter as those of any other artisan, but they
seldom exceed 4 or 5 inches in length.
Mathematical instrument makers, gunsmiths,
and those whose works are of medium size,
employ files from 4 to 14 inches in length.
The file is always measured exclusive of the
tang, by which the file is fixed in its handle.
Generally the lengths of square, round,
and triangular files are from 20 to 30
times their greatest width ; broad, flat, and
half-round are from 10 to 13 times their
width.
Files are distinguished as taper, Hunt, and
parallel. The taper are the most numerous,
their length being made so as to terminate in
a point ; the blunt are made nearly parallel,
terminating in a square end. In both kinds,
however, the section of the file is largest to-
wards the middle, so that the sides are some-
what arched or convex. A few files are made
a3 nearly parallel as possible, and conse-
quently have an equal section throughout ;
such are called parallel files ; but even in
these it is common to find them a little full
in the middle. In almost all taper, blunt,
and parallel files the central line is kept as
straight as possible. Files used by sculptors
anl carvers are made curvilinear in their
central line, and are called riflers.
Files, in other respects the same, may differ
in the forms and sizes of their teeth. In the
first place, they may be single-cut — that is, a
number of ridges are raised straight across
the file by one series of straight chisel cuts ;
these are called floats. In the second place,
files are double-cut — that is, two series of
straight chisel cuts are made across each
other, whereby an immense number of points
or teeth are raised on the surface of the file ;
such double-cutting makes them true files.
In the third kind the surface of the steel is
dotted over with separate teeth, formed by a
pointed chisel or punch, and it is then called
a rasp. Floats and rasps are made for woods,
horn, and other soft material; files proper
for metals and general purposes. The fol-
lowing table gives the general cut of files and
the names indicating- the cut :
4 in.
long.
Gin.
long.
8 in.
long.
12 in.
long.
16 in.
long.
20 in.
long.
Rough
Cuts,
pcrin.
5(5
76
112
216
Cuts,
per in
52
64
88
144
Cuts,
per in
45
56
72
112
Cut?,
per in.
40
58
68
88
Cuts,
per in .
28
44
64
76
Cuts,
per in.
21
34
56
64
To give the names and uses for all the
various forms would require a volume, and
we will stick to the trade, as far as possible.
Taper flat files are rectangular in shape,
considerably rounded on their edges, and
somewhat also in their thickness; hence they
are said to be bellied, and are in general use
among all classes of mechanics.
Flat or Hand files are rectangular in sec-
tion, parallel in width, and a little taper in
thickness.
Cotter files are narrower than hand files,
nearly flat on the sides and edges, used for
filing grooves for keys or wedges in fixing
wheels or shafts.
Pillar files are somewhat narrower and
thinner than flat hand files, and usually have
one safe (uncut) edge.
Half round are just what the name indi-
cates, and are called/WZ half round and flat
half round.
Triangular are also called three-square, and
are usually taper files.
Crossing files, sometimes called double half
round, have each face of a different curvature,
and are useel for filing out the crosses, or
arms, in small wheels — the opposite sides of
the tool presenting a choice of curvature.
Round files, when taper, are called rat tail,
and when small, mouse tail, from their re-
110
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
semblance to those animals' appendages ;
when parallel, they are called joint files.
Square files are mostly taper, made both
with and without a safe side.
Equalling files are usually parallel in width,
and always so in thickness ; when both sides
are safe, they are called ward files.
Knife files are usually taper, with one edge
thin and the other thick.
Slitting files have both edges thin.
Pivot or Verge files are half square ; that is,
their width is double their thickness, and are
subdivided into right and left hand, accord-
ing to the angle which the edge makes with
the side ; in neither is it quite a right angle
Potence files, and pillar files, are small flat
hand files.
Round-off files are half round, with the flat
side cut, and the round side safe, and have a
pivot on the end opposite the tang.
The forging of file blanks is all done by
hand labor, the workmen each confining
himself to a certain kind of file, in order that
by the concentration of his skill and attention
he may attain speed and perfection in its
manufacture. The rod of steel is raised to a
heat, never exceeding blood red, in a coke
fire, two persons working together at the same
anvil— one called the maker, the other the
striker. Three square and a half round are
formed in grooved bosses or dies, fixed in the
anvil. The forged blanks are carefully an-
nealed to make them soft enough for cutting
the teeth. Blanks for common files are
softened in an ordinary annealing oven, but
the best blanks are protected from the action
of the air by being buried in sand contained
in an iron box ; this is slowly heated to a
blood red as in forging. The surfaces of the
blanks are next made accurate in form, and
clean in surface, by rough filing and grind-
ing ; in some cases dead parallel files are
planed in a planing machine.
Next comes the cutting. The workman
sits astride a low bench (usually stone) ; in
front of him, at one end, is the anvil ; the file
blank is held on the anvil by means of a
leather strap passing over each end of it, and
then under the feet of the workman, like
stirrups ; the hammers weigh from one to six
pounds according to the size of the file, and
are curiously formed, the handle being so
placed as to cause the mass of metal to be
pulled toward the workman while making the
blow. The chisels are formed of the best
steel, and vary with tbe size of the file ; they
are broader on the face than the width of the
file, and are only just long enough to be held
between the thumb and the forefinger of the
left hand. At every blow of the hammer the
chisel is made to cut a tooth, and the blows
follow one another in such rapid succession
that the movement forward of the chisel be-
tween each blow is not perceived. When one
surface is covered with single cuts, he pro-
ceeds, in double-cut files, to add a second row,
making them cross the first at a certain angle.
When one side is fully cut, he proceeds to cut
the other side ; but as the teeth just finished
would be injured by placing them on the
naked anvil, they are protected by interpos-
ing a flat piece of alloy of lead and tin, which
perfectly preserves the side already formed.
Holtzapffel describes the operation in these
terms : " The first cut is made at the point
of the file, the chisel is held at a horizontal
angle of about 55°, with the central line of
the file as at a a in the figure, and with a ver-
tical inclination of about 12° from the per-
pendicular. The blow of the hammer upon
the chisel causes the latter to indent and
slightly drive forward the steel, thereby throw-
ing up a trifling ridge or burr; the chisel is
immediately replaced on the blank and slid
by the operator until it encounters the ridge
previously thrown up, which prevents it
slipping further back, and thereby deter-
mines the succeeding position of the chisel.
The chisel, having been placed in its second
position, is again struck with the hammer,
each blow, by practice, being given with the
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
Ill
same force. The drawing gives an enlarged
view of the section of the file and chisel,
showing very clearly the formation of the
teeth. In making the second cut the chisel
is inclined vertically as before, but only about
5° to 10° from the rectangle, as at bb.
Before being hardened, the files are drawn
through beer grounds, yeast, or some ad-
hesive fluids, and then through common salt
mixed with pounded hoof; the object of which
is to protect the teeth from direct action of the
fire and oxidation by the air ; the fusion of
the salt affording an index when the harden-
ing heat is attained ; it is then immediately
removed from the fire and plunged into a
cistern of cold water. The method of plung-
ing it in the water is of importance ; it is held
by the tang with tongs, and immersed slowly
or quickly, vertically or obliquely, according
to its form ; experience only can teach that
method which is most likely to keep the file
straight. They are next scoured with brushes
dipped in sand and water, then are put in
lime water for some hours to get rid of every
particle of salt ; they are then thoroughly
dried at the fire, rubbed over with olive oil
containing turpentine, and are then ready
far packing.
The manual dexterity displayed in file-
cutting is scarcely excelled in any branch
of art. In the great London Exposition, in
the Danish department, were displayed a
series of cast steel files that were almost fit to
be classed among fine art ; one large square
file was covered with a series of pictures,
representing on one face a view of the city of
Copenhagen, on another face the operations
of the forge, file cutting, etc.
These effects were entirely produced by the
file-cutter's chisel; the effect of shading being
given by the Aarious angles of the teeth
reflecting the light at different degrees of
obliquity. The teeth of a large circular file
were cut so as to represent in a spiral going
several times ai ound the file, the maker's
name, wreaths, c"ate, etc. This file was hollow
and co^ tained within it a second hollow file,
which in its turn contained ten others, all orna-
mented in a similar manner, the smallest
being not larger than a needle.
Machine-cut files are produced to some
extent, but the difficulties attending the use
of machines have prevented their serious
interference with the hand work. The pro-
per use of the file requires more dexterity
than many suppose ; there are very few who
can use a large file skilfully without long and
tedious practice. A moment's consideration
of the subject will show why. Suppose a
piece of metal in the vise, an inch in thick-
ness, to be filed square across ; to do this, the
file must be drawn and pushed in a perfect
plane, which seems easy to do, but on trying
it you will find the leverage between the
point and handle is constantly changing ; in
the beginning of the cutting stroke the handle
has all the advantage; at the middle of the
stroke each hand, one at each end, are equally
balanced; but as the file advances, the point
gets the advantage of the long end of the
lever ; the consequence of this condition of
things is a great tendency to cut away the
edge nearest you of the piece upon which you
operate. In the last end of the stroke it is
almost impossible not to tilt the point of the
file downward, so as to cut away the far side
of the piece ; consequently the surface filed
becomes convex instead of flat. There is
also another element of error which comes
in ; both arms tend to swing on a curve, or
rather on two curves — one centre being at
the shoulder, the other at the elbow, and
these compound circular motions are difficult
to reduce in practice to the necessary straight
line. The shapes of files would indicate that
the cut would be concave, but the workman
who can file a surface to fit the file is a rarity.
By the diagram showing the enlarged view of
the file-teeth it will be seen that they cut only
in one direction — and the pressure, in using,
should be applied only during the forwaid
stroke, and the return stroke with barely suf-
ficient pressure to keep the file in contact with
the surface, the " flat" being kept more by the
sense of touch than by reasoning or judg-
ment.
To use files economically, the first wear
should come upon brass or cast-iron ; when
112
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
they commence to lose their keen edge, they
can then come upon wrought-iron or steel,
with almost as sharp a cut as at first ; if the
first use be upon iron or steel, they are compar-
atively valueless for cast-iron or brass after-
ward. Six inch files, without handles, are
no better than three inch ones properly
handled ; for one half the file, in the first
instance, is used as a handle, and the rear
part is valueless, except to hold it by. It is
a shiftless, wasteful method to use them thus,
and when we see a bench strewn with handle-
less files, we expect to find a careless, unthrifty
workman.
We have seen many receipts for recutting
wornout files by acid, but have never suc-
ceeded in accomplishing any great good by
them. !,The best way is to take them to a file-
cutter, then you have new files for old ones,
at a trifling expense ; nearly all the principal
cities now have such establishments ; cer-
tainly every manufacturing place supports one
or more of them.
Many small files imported from the Con-
tinent are simply iron, ease-hardened ; that
is, the surface converted into a thin film of
steel. Such files are used to a considerable
extent by jewellers, for filing gold and such
soft metals, and answer a tolerable purpose ;
but for a watchmaker to buy such is a waste
of money. English files have for years main-
tained a reputation for superiority, but of late
years certain makes of Swiss and French files
have proved very excellent, and it would seem
that a people who so extensively and skilfully
use them ought to be equally successful in
their manufacture.
J5@°* We have received too late for this
number, an article from Mr. J. Herrmann, of
London, on the epicycloidal formation of
wheel teeth by co-ordinates, but which will
be presented to our readers in the December
number, and can also promise an article
from Mr. Grossmann in the same issue. Mr,
Herrmann is doing a very valuable work in
giving instructions in mechanical drawing
to classes in connection with the Horological
Institute, and we only regret that the young
men in our own city could not avail them-
selves of similar opportunities for improve-
ment.
A COMPENSATED WOODEN PENDULUM.
Editor Horological Journ.il:
Even if any of the various pendulums now
in use was perfect, there would still be an
occasion for discovering one that might be
simpler and less expensive.
The Graham pendulum— the best — re-
quires a more costly material than any other,
and the Gridiron, while open to the same ob-
jection, on account of its construction, is a
thing " fearfully and wonderfully made."
These two are in general use in this country.
The performance of the Graham is excellent,
but it is not quite perfect. The performance
of the Gridiron, when well made, is only or-
dinary, while the least defect in its construc-
tion is fatal to eve a ordinary time.
The following description of a pendulum
which approximates to the perfection of the
Graham, at a merely nominal cost, will be so
readily understood that any watchmaker can
apply it and tjst it himself. The princi-
)le upon which it is made has
>een generally followed here-
ofore in selecting the least
ispansive material for the rod.
2he rod in the present case is
■I soft white pine wood, of
•-ourse well seasoned and per-
ectly straight in the grain.
Che expansion or contraction
>f this wood lengthwise is ab-
olutely little or nothing. The
■ob is the common brass shell
died with lead, and is adjusted
o time in the ordinary manner.
Che rod is suspended by a
ampered steel spring, which
hould not be thick enough to
under its very free vibration,
nd for a seconds pendulum
he working part of the spring
leed not exceed in length | of
,n inch. The compensation is
>rovided for in the following
nanner, viz. : A is a brass ball
ree enough on the pendulum
^o slide up or down without
touching the rod ; B B are brass or zinc rods;
upon the upper ends of these two rods the
ball A is fitted loosely, and is adjusted up or
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
113
down by screw nuts traversing the rods. The
Tower ends of the rods B are fitted into a col-
let C that is fastened to the pendulum rod by
a screw. The compensation ball should be
placed nearly in its place on the rod and fas-
tened by the screw in the collet C ; it may
then be adjusted exactly to compensation by
the small nuts on the brass rods B.
The action of the compensation is seen at a
glance. As the heat lengthens the pendu-
lum rod and lowers the bob, it also lengthens
the rods B and raises the ball A to compen-
sate for the increased length of the pendu-
lum, and so vice versa. For a seconds pendu-
lum the ball A may be 2 inches in diameter,
and the rods B G inches in length. As " com-
parisons are odious" and provoke controversy,
the merits of this rod will be alluded to with-
out comparing them with those of any other.
1st. It is a remarkably correct timekeeper.
It has been applied to a great many clocks
put up in different parts of the country, prin-
cipally turret clocks, which are exposed to the
changes of temperature more than any other
kind of clocks, and has as a general thing
performed well. The turret clock in the
Military Academy at West Point, manufac-
tured by Mr. Byram, of Sag Harbor, has this
compensation, and during a period of seven
years its variation frora mean time was not
over thirty seconds a year for all that time.
2d. It is the simplest of compensation
pendulums, and its price is only a little more
than the wire pendulum to a Yankee clock.
As every watchmaker wants to have a good
regulator, and in many cases is only deterred
by the cost, every little improvement, whether
it tends to greater excellence or to simplicity
of construction, must alike be considered a
step in the right direction.
B. F. H.
Sag Haebok, Oct., 1870.
[We perfectly agree with " B. F. H," in
regard to the value of wood as a material to
be used in the construction of a pendulum
rod for a turret clock, or an ordinary watch-
maker's regulator, considering it far prefer-
able to most of the patent compensating
pendulums that are offered to the trade. We
have before heard of the rate of running
claimed for the turret clock at West Point,
and consider it wonderful, even taking into
account the fact that it was under the charge
of scientific men during the entire time.]
STAKING TOOL.
Editor Hokological Jouenal :
I wish to call your attention to my new
patent staking tool, which is almost indispens-
able for riveting and unriveting wheels, and
for rounding and stretching the same. It is
also one of the most convenient devices for a
freeing-tool. and for finishing bushings ; also
for closing pivot-holes, and for removing
table-roller from balance staffs, and in many
instances answers the purpose of a lathe in
connection with the bow, besides being adapt-
ed to many other purposes that might be
named.
Its many advantages will readily be seen
from the fact that the drill, punch, or finish-
ing-tool used therewith, have a perfect guide,
so that a true and unerring blow may be
given, and the work more accurately per-
formed than can possibly be done by hand.
It also forms a true and perfect guide for
the drill when the bow is used, and also ad-
mits of many attachments being used there-
with, such as small anvils and beaks, on which
many kinds of work maybe done in the most
accurate manner.
A represents the block or foundation on
which the attachments and adjuncts of my
tool are fixed. It is made of any suitable
metal, but from experience it has been found
that cast-iron, steel, brass, or wrought iron
114
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
are most suitable. It is rectangular in form,
and may be made of any suitable or desired
dimensions.
C is a groove, made much deeper than its
width, running longitudinally from end to end
of the block A.
Over this said groove C, and on the top of
the block A, is closely imbedded a tempered
cast-steel plate, B, which also runs from end to
end of the block A, and spans the groove C.
The surfaces of the block A and steel plate
B are planed off evenly, and polished, so as
to form a perfect and true surface.
The steel plate B is provided with a series
of holes, graduated in a true longitudinal line
with the block A, the objects of which are to
allow the journal of a watch-wheel to pass
down through them, so that the rim or sides
of the wheel can be brought flat upon the true
plain surface of the plate.
G represents a movable guide, that moves
or slides from end to end of the block, by
means of a gib, E, fitted and working closely
in a dovetail groove, and secured in any de-
sired position by means of a set-screw, D, all
these being arranged and located on the side
of the block A.
The arm of the guide G leaves the block A
in a curve, and is brought around over the
top of the centre of the block, at which point
the sa:d arm is provided with a perpendicular
hole or bore, F, which receives a punch, drill,
or other tool required, as seen at O, which
represents a drill provided with a grooved
wheel, designed to be used with the bow.
This drill is provided with a movable
sleeve, a, for the purpose of gauging the depth
of the drill, which is done by moving the
said sleeve up or down, and securing the
same in the desired position by means of the
set- screw, i.
H shows a cross-bar, with flanges or gibs
closely fitted over each side of the block A,
which serves the purpose of a gauge or guide,
and for steadying the work while being done.
This cross-bar is rigidly secured in its posi-
tion by means of a set-screw,/".
The simplicity of this tool, and the many
uses to which it is adapted, would readily
seem to suggest its mode of operation to any
one of ordinary skill. I will, however, state,
that to bring the bore or tool to be used
directly over the centre of any of the holes
in the block, I have a slim centre punch,
closely fitting to the bore, which, when the
set-screw D is slackened, is introduced into
the hole designed to be used, by which means
the bore is brought directly over the centre
where it can be firmly secured by the set-
screw D.
Dan. M. Bissell.
Shelbukne Falls, Mass.
BENZINE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ALCOHOL.
EDITOK HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL :
In the 1st Volume of your Journal I read a
very useful article on "Watch Cleaning," p-
52. It contains cautions against treating the
parts of the lever escapement too much with
alcohol, as the jewels might get loose in their
shellac fastenings. This makes me wish to
point out to your readers a cleaning fluid
which seems little known among the watch-
makers of your country, viz., benzine. It is a
stronger dissolvent of all oily or greasy mat-
ter than alcohol, but does not attack any
resinous substance, and you may, without the
slightest fear, leave the escapement for hours
and days in it without loosening the jewels.
A few moments of immersion in benzine are
sufficient for taking away even thick and
gummy oil, and any one may satisfy himself
by the simple experiment of throwing a small
particle of shellac in a bottle with benzine,
that it does not dissolve in weeks or months-
It would be most useful if repairers might
punctually follow the indications given in No.
2, p. 52, only substituting benzine for alcohol.
Then many vexations arising from loose jewels
would be avoided.
In the same communication I find a state-
ment leading to the belief that the electro-
gilding deposited on a coat of ciystallic silver
is more liable to be brushed off than a gilding
made in another way. This is not the case,
for the electro-gilding on a dead silvered
ground resists brushing just as well as any
other gilding. This method, compared to the
old one, allows of making the gold coat almost
of any thinness, and a great number of Swiss
manufacturers have taken advantage of this
possibility for economizing gold, and thus the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
115
electro-gilding lias been discredited in its
durability. But if a common-sized watch is
coated carefully with about ^ dollar's worth of
gold on a dead silvered ground, it will take
some hours brushing with a hard brush before
the silver shines through.
Saxon.
o
TAPS AND MILLS.
Editok Hokological Joukxal :
I have a word or two to say in regard to
fluting very small taps. My method is to
make them with a conical shoulder, instead
of a square shoulder, as are those which usu-
ally accompany finished screws by the gross ;
in fact, I take the same taps and put them in
a spring chuck and turn the shoulder back of
the thread to a conical form, as that insures
the greatest amount of strength ; then I take
a common graver and cut a groove from end
to end of the thread on the tap, sloping the
point of the graver so as to leave one side
slightly under-cut in the direction in which
the tap is to cut ; the other portion of the cut
will, of course, slope off so as to give the free-
ing for chips. I make three such cuts equi-
distant on the circumference, then harden and
temper.
In regard to making and tempering small
pivot drills, I use the best English needles, as
the steel in those is generally of a superior
quality. I file the drill a very little smaller
than the hole which I wish to make in the
staff or pinion, and then place it in a sloping
position on any round surface, and then strike
two or three smart blows with a light bench
hammer, then cut with a pair of sharp cut-
ting nippers in the centre of the part so ham-
mered, and file up to shape. If for very hard
steel, I give a very small angle to both the
feeding and cutting angles, about 120° to the
feeding angles, and 3° or 4° to the cutting
angles. If the point is somewhat thick after
this dressing, I rub the flat sides to a point
crosswise on an oil-stone slip ; I then temper
by heating to a bright, cherry red, and plunge
into a piece of white wax, such as dentists use
for taking impressions, after which I finish
the cutting edge on the oil-stone ; this will
make a drill that will cut smoothly and not so
liable to break in the hole as those that are
tempered in resin and such materials. For
large drills I sometimes use resin to harden
the extreme point, but prefer plain water,
drawing to a yellow color after hardening. In
both large and small drills which are used on
softer metals than steel, I give more of a feed-
ing angle, say 80° or 90°, but no more than
3° or 4° of cutting or freeing angle, as all that
is necessary is to free the body of the drill,
back of the edge, and it will not have so much
of a scraping as cutting action. In large
drills I make a groove directly above the cut-
ting edge on the face side with a graver or
fine file, which will make the drill bite in and
cut faster ; but on the whole, for anything
larger than the pivot drill I prefer the twist
drill, as they are always ready.
A. H. Catbcabt.
Marshall, Mich.
PINION MEASUREMENTS.
Editok Horological Jouknal:
In several numbers of your valuable monthly
I have seen directions for obtaining the cor-
rect measurement of pinions, but none of
them was based on rule or method, so as to
be easily remembered when once impressed
on the mind. The following rule will have
this advantage, and can be used by any watch-
maker who is not in possession of the finer
and more accurate, but costly tools, for all
practical purposes : Count each tooth and
space as three until you equal twice the num-
ber of leaves in the pinion ; this will be the
diameter of the pinion; set your calipers and
you have the gauge : Thus :
A pinion of 5 will require 10 spaces.
6
a
12
7
tt
14
8
tt
16
9
tt
18
10
tt
20
11
(i
22
12
tt
24
J. E.
Boston, Oct. 25, 1870.
116
AMEKICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
IMPAIRING ENGLISH WATCHES.
Editor Hoeological Journal:
I wish to give a word of advice to your
young readers. It often occurs with English
lever watches, especially the larger sizes,
which have been dropped or roughly used by
the wearer, that when the watch is taken
down for repairs, the barrel, great wheel, and
centre wheel are found running foul of the
plate, or of each other, and forthwith the
workman gets his universal lathe to work on
the plates. Whereas, if the plate pillars,
which very likely are loose, were firmly rivet-
ed in the first place, and a little attention
paid to truing the barrel, the faults would be
permanently remedied. Another very impor-
tant point, and one often overlooked, is to
make sure before putting a watch together,
that the wheels are quite firm on the pinions.
I have known many instances of fine English
and Swiss watches stopping or failing to come
to time, for no other reason than because the
scape wheel was loose on the pinion. This
will sometimes occur in cleaning, especially
when the wheel is not secured on the pinion
direct. American watches generally are well
secured against any such fault. Pinions, too,
should always be left very clean and smooth;
every pivot that looks the least bit ragged
should be burnished, and in no case should the
workman fail to examine the balance staff
pivots; see that they are polished, sufficiently
rounded, and long enough to reach the end
jewel, with shoulder quite free. The centre
wheel should have only enough shake to be
free (having too much is a common fault), not
only to prevent fouling, but for the better
working of the dial wheels and hands. Never
pass an Euglish watch that has been running
any length of time, without taking the great
wheel off the fuzee and seeing that the click
work is in good order, clean, and with fresh
oil. Never give out a watch unless sure it is
in beat, if ever so busy, and take pains to
pin the hair spring in true and flat (if a plain
one); see that none of the screws in the bal-
ance are loose or even unscrewed, unless
intended to be so; pass no bad fitting screws,
especially important ones, as cock screws,
barrel plate and bridge screws, and those
used for seem-in g cap jewels. The improved
appearance of a watch that has good screws
will always compensate for attentions given
in that direction. I use a flat block of lead,
and a round hammer for riveting pillars.
The lead holds them sufficiently and prevents
the ends from spreading. Clackner's barrel
contractor is a tool that every watchmaker
should have for truing main-spring barrels of
all kinds. It saves a deal of time.
James W. Pembroke.
Pittsburg, Pa., Oct. 20, 1870.
FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF NEW
YORK.
The Twenty-third Exhibition of works of
industry, applied science and art, in connec-
tion with this Institute, was opened to the
public in this city on September 15th, and is
still in progress, visited by thousands daily.
Collected within one great building are to be
seen the choice works of skill, ingenuity,
handicraft and art, in almost every conceiv-
able department of industry peculiar to our
country ; but it is a source of regret to us
that the Horological Department is not more
fully represented — only two of the watch
factories making any exhibition of their pro-
ducts, and the immense clock interests of the
country are entirely unrepresented.
Watches. — The United States Watch Co.,
Marion, N. J. — Giles, Wales & Co., 13 Maiden
Lane, New York, General Agents — display a
fine variety of ladies' and gentlemen's
watches, with full and three-quarter plate
movements, exposed pallets, straight-line es-
capements, and stem winders — the Company
claiming strength and simplicity as the pe-
culiar feature of the winding mechanism.
They exhibit over fifty different styles, many
of them in solid nickel, and beautifully dam-
askeened. Their style of casing is especially
worthy of notice, both in design and finish,
some of them being very elaborately enamel-
led, and especially adapted for presentation
purposes. Among the ladies' watches was
one set with diamonds, valued at $1,800, and
one valued at $700. They also exhibit a
number of dials with masonic and other em-
blems, which were very beautifully executed,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
117
The New York Watch Co., Springfield,
Mass., — Messrs. Richard Oliver and Baden,
No. 11 John Street, New York, General
Agents — bring forward a goodly display of
stem-winding and key-winding fine watches,
complete in gold and silver cases. They also
exhibit their movements in various stages of
manufacture ; dials, plain and with sunk sec-
onds, are seen in 16 different stages ; dial
plates in 5 ; upper plates in 1 ; balance bridge
in 6; main-spring band in 7; main-spring in 2;
winding arbor in 6 ; centre wheel and pin-
ion in 11 ; 2d wheel and pinion in 11 ; 3d
wheel and pinion in 11 ; 'scape wheel and
pinion in 11 ; pallets and lever, in a multipli-
city of different stages, and compensation
balances in 12 ; hair-springs in 4 ; balance
roller and staff in 12 ; regulators in 7 ; wind-
ing and setting arbor cups in 10 ; ratchet,
click, and spring in 14 ; male and female
stops in 9 ; and motion wheels, screws, and
jewels, in many different processes of manu-
facture. The escapements of these watches
resemble very closely the one used by Jur-
genaen, and in the arrangement of the move-
ment simplicity predominates; nothing useless
is introduced, and they somewhat resemble
the superior class of Swiss movements. Sev-
eral of the movements are in nickel, beauti-
fully damaskeened in various patterns.
Howard and Co., of Broadway, exhibit a
very fine case of watches, the production of
the American Watch Co., but not for compe-
tition, and also a fine display of gold and
silver chains.
Clocks. — This department is very meagrely
represented, and contains nothing of special
merit. Jame3 Rodgers, of Liberty street, New
York, exhibits a showy clock and case, design-
ed to be fastened up on a wall, probably in
some large office or hall. Chas. E. Market, 792
Third avenue, New York, a boy 16 years of
age, exhibits a little clock all made by himself
at his leisure hours. The clock is covered with
glas3, and of course the works are exposed,
and with boyish simplicity he has two roses
on the top of the movement, and a small bird
flying between the two, keeping time with the
pendulum. The whole is creditably executed,
and we hope that it will be an incentive to
the young man towards higher efforts, and an
example to all our New York, and in fact all
our American watchmakers' apprentices, to
spend a portion of then' leisure hours in such
studies.
L. Thorne, Robinson street, New York, ex-
hibits a globe clock. We have not had an
opportunity of having it explained to us, or
of examining the principle of its construction,
and we can only say that it is a small clock
under a glass shade, evidently designed to
show certain astronomical movements. J.
Cohen, 942 Third avenue, exhibits a clock for
a watchmaker's or jeweller's window. A clock
of similar construction is described at page
202 of the first volume of this Journal.
William H. McNary, Brooklyn, exhibits a
clock having no hands. The hours, minutes,
and seconds are marked on the edges of re-
volving cylinders, and the figures show
through small holes in the dial plate. Mr.
McNary claims, and not without some show
of reason, that his system is less liable to mis-
takes in reading the time than the system < f
hands pointing to figures, and its simplicity
enables any child that knows figures to tell
what o'clock it is. We have examined the
system by which the cylinders are made re-
volve, no friction springs are used to keep
them steady, and consequently to drag on the
clock ; they are arranged perfectly free, and
can only move at the proper time. We hope
Mx\ McNary will, in a short time, make his
system more public.
Mr. William H. Horton, Jersey City, N. J.,
exhibits an adjustable compensation pendu-
lum, or rather he styles it an adjustable com-
pensating regulator, of which Messrs. Terhune
& Edwards, 18 Cortlandt street, New York,
are agents. This is one of the many modi-
fications of Ellicott's pendulum, and the in-
ventor makes the rather extravagant claim
" that it is superior in every respect to any
pendulum in use ; that it in perfect, etc." As
a scientific Journal, we are always ready to
acknowledge merit, and assist in its develop-
ment, but we are opposed to all charlatan
ism, and unhesitatingly denounce the distin-
guishing feature of this pendulum to be a
delusion ; and the general workmanship,
both in the important fittings, and that
which tends to make a good general appear-
ance, to be the very worst in any part of th2
section it belongs to. We may have occasion
118
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
to refer to this pendulum in some forthcoming
number, and at present can only remark,
that no stronger argument is required for
the necessity of a purely horological journal,
than the fact of this pendulum being placed
for competition in an exhibition of the Ameri-
can Institute.
Astronomical and Optical Instruments. —
Blunt & Co., 179 Water street, New York,
make a fine display of the principal instru-
ments they manufacture, and the only ones
of the kind on exhibition. Conspicuous in
their case stands a fine transit theodolite.
This comprehensive instrument will measure
horizontal and vertical angles reading on
both circles to 10 seconds of arc, and com-
pass angles can also be measured by it. The
axis is perforated for illumination of the cross
wires, and having both erect and diagonal
eye pieces and astronomical reticule, can be
i.sed for celestial observations. The diplei-
doscope or meridian instrument they exhibit
is a very useful and convenient little instru-
ment, and contains all the accuracy requisite
for ordinary purposes. We are informed that
Professor B. H. Bull, of the New York Uni-
versity, used one of them in the country dur-
ing the past summer, and his observations
with the dipleidoscope never differed more
than a very few seconds from the observa-
tions taken with his fine transit erected in the
upper part of this city.
T. H. McAllister, 49 Nassau street, New
York, exhibits a fine selection of microscopes
and microscopic apparatus, and three con-
densing lenses, and a variety of other articles
which appear to be first-class goods, and are
tastefully arranged. Miller Brothers, 69 Nas-
sau street, New York, also show microscopes
and microscopic apparatus and a variety of
lenses. The professional microscope in this
case is very fine.
Solid Silver and Plated Goods. — The Ex-
hibition is rich in this department. Tiffany
and Co., 550 and 552 Broadway, New York,
exhibit a magnificent selection of solid silver
presentation plate. The Queen's Challenge
Cup, won by the yacht " America," of the
New York Yacht Club, in 1851, and lately
coi tested for by the English yacht " Cambria,"
and still remaining in possession of the New
York Yacht Club, is exhibited in their show-
case ; also the plate "presented to the New
York Club by Commodore James Ashbury,
owner of the " Cambria," and which was won
by the " Magic ;" also a number of other
cups won in yachting contests, — all of the most
gorgeous description. We . consider the ar-
tistic skill and talent of the country in this
branch of the business to be concentrated in
the goods shown by Messrs. Tiffany & Co.
Reed & Barton, Taunton, Mass., display a
fine variety of silver, and silver-plated goods,
of elegant and artistic design. Their show-
case is very attractive.
Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., Wallingford,
Conn. — Office, 19 John street, New York — ex-
hibit a case of fine silver-plated ware. Elegance
and durability are claimed by the exhibitors
for their goods.
The Lippiatt Silver Plate and Engraving
Co., 10 Maiden Lane, New York — Manufac-
tory at Newark, N. J. — make a fine display of
their goods, engraved and chased by their
patented steam machinery. These goods are
artistic in design, and the pearl satin finish
is well executed.
Miscellaneous Articles. — L. L. Smith, 6
Howard street, New York, exhibits a number
of miscellaneous articles to show the useful-
ness and practicability of nickel plating. A
ship's binnacle and a steam engine are among
the articles exhibited.
The Bradsley Nickel and Manufacturing
Co., 71 & 76 Fulton street, Brooklyn, also ex-
hibit specimens of their nickle plating.
M. Bourdon, No. 6 Old Slip, N. Y, exhibits
the superiority of Emil Prevost's new liquid
chromic acid as a substitute for other liquids
in galvanic batteries. The liquid chromis
acid is suitable for any description of battery,
and recommends itself on the scox'e of superior
strength, economy, durability, and evenness
of action, and has no odor whatever.
Messrs. L. L. Whitlock & Co., Office 708
Broadway, N. Y, P. O. Box 6775, exhibit one
of Whitlock's drop presses for hand or me-
chanical power, but is especially valuable to
jewelry manufacturers who use hand power.
It can be worked five times as fast as the
common hand drop, and takes but from one-
quarter to one-sixth the power to do so. Mr.
Whitlock informs us that he has another drop
press nearly completed, which he expects will
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
119
strike a blow equal to one hundred pounds
once every minute or oftener, and when once
started might be worked by a lady as easily
as a sewing machine. Mr. Whitlock lays no
claim to making or creating power ; he simply
sa ves and stores up the little forces as they ac-
cumulate, which is the secret of the results he
attains in the extra amount of work done by
his machines. We noticed a choice and costly
selection of Swiss drawing instruments and
materials, exhibited by Keuffel & Esser, 116
Fulton street, and also by J. H. Queen, 5 Dey
street, andanassortmentof American drawing
instruments by Benoit & Wood, 142 Fulton
street, Xew York, completes the list of articles
likely to be interesting to our readers. In
conclusion, we would make a suggestion to our
young friends to emulate Chas. E. Market,
and show some little production of their skill
at the next Exhibition of the Institute. It
need not be an entire watch or clock ; proba-
bly a very few have the facilities to make a
whole instrument, but all could exhibit some
feats of skill in handling the file, polishing a
flat surface, using the lathe, and many other
difficult manipulations. Doubtless the Insti-
tute vould give facilities for the exhibition
of such articles, which would be a means of
developing powers that otherwise may be
dormant and probably never see light.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A. H. C, Marshall, Mich. — The thing you
have to do with your lathe is to fix in or on
your swing rest a live mandrel, as described
on page 118 of the .Journal. You will not
need the swinging ftame, as there described,
because your rest itself is the swing, and can
be made to approach the centre of your
lathe mandrel by its screw. The only diffi-
calty will be in connecting it by a counter
shaft with your lathe pulley in such a man-
ner as to allow the necessary amount of
swing to your rest which carries the grinding
and po'ishing mandrel.
We arranged something of the kind for an
American lathe, which may give you an idea
how to adapt something to your lathe. On
the bed of the lathe M we fixed a rest N, to
which was attached a swing frame A, carry-
ing a short mandrel and pulley, on the pro-
jecting end of which we fixed the cutting and
polishing disks c, which could be made to
approach the lathe centre B, by means of the
screw P. The difficulty was to run a band
from tiie centre shaft to carry the poiismng
arbor, and yet allow the swinging movement
without altering the tension of the band.
This we did by placing beyond the counter
shaft an upright arm X, carrying a pulley Y,
at the top and hinged at the bottom to allow
of a swinging motion to correspond with the
swing of the frame carrying the grinding
disks ; the band was carried completely
around the large pulley E on the centre shaft
and thence around the little pulley on the
arm, which was kept at the proper tension by
a spring Gr, sufficiently strong ; this arrange-
ment, of course, allowed full motion to the
swing frame without altering the length of
the band.
J. B. M., Toledo, 0.— One of the earliest es-
capements applied to stationary time-pieces
after the discovery of the pendulum was the
anchor, so called from its resemblance to the
flukes of an anchor. It is not positively
known who invented it ; some attribute the
invention to Thomas Mudge, some to Clement
It was claimed as a dead beat, " because the
curves upon which the beats were made are
arcs of circles of which the anchor pivot is
the centre," and was so regarded for more
than eighty years, or until Berthoud, in 1763,
" gave minute rules by which the anchor es-
capement invented by Clement, a London
clockmaker, in 1861, might be made recoiling
for small clocks, with the view of rendering
the vibrations isochronal " All authority
seems to confirm the opinion that it was
dead beat, and the name seems to have more
reference to the motion (as seen) of the sec-
onds hand, that to any sound it gave ; the
123
AMERICAN HOROLQGICAL JOURNAL.
hand always in such escapements remains
motionless, or dead, till the moment of es-
caping, just the opposite of the recoil escape-
ment, which was always on the move — rest-
lessly alive. In the endless descriptions of
escapements extant, by common consent, all
such as permit excursions of the pendulum
beyond the impulse plane, without disturb-
ance of the condition of rest in the escape
wheels, are called dead beat ; no matter what
their peculiarity of construction, or by what
additional name called, if they possess the
property above mentioned they are undoubt-
edly dead beat escapements.
D. B. M., Texas. — We have recently seen
in a foreign scientific and industrial journal
a method described of covering iron or steel
with copper, which will, perhaps, be just the
thing you require for coating the articles you
mention. " First make the article entirely
bright by fill, scratch brush, or any of the
usual modes. Apply to the surface a coating
of cream of tartar, then sprinkle the surface
with a saturated solution of sulphate of
copper, and rub with a hard brush." The
coating of copper deposited on the iron is
said to be very even and durable.
E. L.D., Ohio. — You cannot make a new hole
in the inner end of a clock spring without
straightening out the spring and recoiling it,
which is very difficult to do unless you have a
clock spring reel. " The game is not worth
the powder," when springs can be bought so
cheaply.
M. O., Pa. — The word Horology is derived
from the Latin, Horologium, a description of
the hours. Tne French give us Horloge ; the
Italians, Ora ; the Germans, %\\\K, and the
Greek, u-poXoytov.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
G-- B. MILLER,
229 Broadway, N. Y.,
At $'2.59 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, xvill be
received.
&§■= Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
"EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For November, 1870.
ii
Sidereal
Time
Equation
Sidereal
&
of
of
Equation
Din*,
for
One
Time
o
Day
the Ssmi-
Time to be
of
or
of
diameter ! Subtracted
Time to be
Right '
o
ilon.
Passing
from
Added to
Ascensioa '
t*>
the
Apparent
Mean Time. "■""■
of
R
Meridian.
Time.
Mean Sun.
s.
M s.
M. S. S.
h. ir. f.
Tn.
1
66.95
16 17.20
16 17.22 i 0.056
14 42 17.01
W.
2
67 07
16 18.16
16 18.17 ; 0.024
14 46 13.57
Th.
3
67.19
16 18.33
16 18.32 ! 0.009
14 50 10.12
Fri.
4
67.31
16 17.69
16 17.68 i 0.043
14 54 6.68
Rat
5
67.42
16 16.24
16 16 22 | 0.077
14 58 3.23
Sh.
6
67 54
16 13 98
16 13.95 0.111
15 1 59.79
M..
7
67.66 i 16 10.88
16 10.84 0.146
15 5 56.34
Tn.
8
67.78 16 6.95
16 6.91 0.181
15 9 52.90
W.
9
67.90 i 16 2.17
16 2 11
0.216
15 13 49.45
Th. 10
68.02 ! 15 56.55
15 56.48
0.252
15 17 46.01
Fri. 11
68 14 15 50.07
15 49.S9
d.288
15 21 42.56
Sat
12
68 26 15 42.73
15 42.65
0.324
15 25 39.12
Sn.
13
68 38
15 34.52
15 34 43
0.360
15 29 35.67
M..
11
68.50
15 25.45
15 25 35
0.396 | 15 33 32.23
Tu.
15
68.61
15 15.51
15 15 40
0.432 15 37 28.79
W.
16
68 . 73
15 4.71
15 4.59
0.467
15 41 25.34
Th.
17
68.84
14 53.06
14 52.94
0.503
15 45 21.90
Fri
18
68.96
14 40 55
14 40.42
0.538
15 49 18.45
Sat
19
69.07
14 27.20
14 27 06
0.573
15 53 15.01
Sn.
20
69.19
14 13.01
14 12.87
0.608
15 57 11.57
i\r..
21
69.30
13 58.00
13 57.85
0 642
16 1 8.12
Tn.
22
69.41
13 42.18
13 42.03
0.676
16 5 4.68
W.
23
69 52 ' 13 25.56
13 25.40
0.708
16 9 1.23
Th.
24
69.62
13 8.17
13 8.00
0.740
16 12 57.79
Fri.
25
69.73
12 50.01
12 49.84
0.771
16 10 54.35
Sat
26
69.83
12 31.11
12 30.91
0.802
16 20 50.91
Su.
27
69.93
12 11.49
12 11.32
0.832
16 24 47.46
M..
28
70.03
11 51 17
11 51.00
0.861
16 28 44.02
Tn.
29
70.13
11 30 16
11 29.99
0.889
16 32 40.58
W.
30
70.22
11 8 49
11 8 32
0.916
16 36 37.13
Mean time of the Semidiameler passing may bo found by sub-
tracting 0. 19 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiametor for mean neon may be assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. H. M.
© Full Moon 7 19 31.9
i Last Quarter 15 20 58.9
@ New Moon 22 13 20 9
) First Quarter 29 10 33.0
D. II.
( Apogee 8 1.5
C Perigee .... 22 48
Latitude of Harvard Observatory . . .
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory .
5 37
58.062
Poin
8 1
42.64
APPARENT
APPARENT
MERID.
R. ASCENSION.
DECLINATION.
PASSAGE.
D. H. M. S.
o ' a
H. M.
1 13 52 35.43..
Jupiter. . . .
1 5 42 25.07..
.. + 22 50 13.3..
...14 57.5
Saturn . . .
1 17 39 36.48..
..+22 27 11.2..
..2 56.9
AMERICAN
0102:1c
You. II.
NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1870,
No. G.
CONTENTS.
Heat 121
SoFr Solder 125
construction of the addendum of a train wheel
Tooth bt Co-ordinates, 126
Adjustments to Positions, Etc., 129
Engraving, 133
Hair-Spring Gauge 134
Transit Instruments, 134
Worn Rims 135
Light, ■ 135
Answers to Correspondents, 140
Equation of Time Table, 144
* * * Address aU communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Boom 19.
HEAT.
NUMBER FITE.
EXPANSION OF SOLIDS CUBICAL EXPANSION LIN-
EAR EXPANSION CONSTRUCTION OF PYROM-
ETERS— EXPANSION OF LIQUIDS EXPANSION OF
AERIFoRM FLUIDS, ETC.
In the present number the relation between
the temperature and the volume of a sub-
stance will be considered. In some cases it
is the increase of the volume of a body which
we wish to estimate, while in others, as for
instance when we are considering a sub-
stance such as a bar, of which the length is
the important element, it is change of length
and not change of volume with which we con-
cern ourselves. The former of these is cal-
led linear, and the latter cubical expansion.
To determine the cubical expansion of a solid
we may either, first, weigh the substance at
different temperatures in a liquid of which
the absolute expansion is known, or we may,
secondly, enclose it in a glass vessel, the re-
mainder of which is filled with mercury or
water ; and if the absolute expansion of
either of these liquids is known, that of the
glass envelope and of the enclosed solid may
be easily determined by mathematical calcu-
lation.
We present a table showing the dif-
ference between the linear and the cubical
expansion of six of the principal metals, and
give the names of the observers.
Mean linear expan-
Mean cubical expan-
Substance
sion between 32°
sion between 32*
Observers.
and 212" Fahr.
and 212' Fahr.
.0 10837
.00254
Lavoisier & Laplace, Roy & Ramsden, Dulong & Petit, Renault
Copper
.001716
.005127
" " Daniell " Kopp .
.002882
.0089
" " " Kopp.
Tin
.001959
.0069
(< 11 (1 u
Zinc
.002976
.0089
Daniell "
.0012U4
.003546
Lavoisier & Laplace, Borda, Dulong and Petit.
From this it will be seen that the cubical ex-
pansion is in every case equal to about three
times the linear expansion of the same sub-
stance. The reason of this relationship be-
tween the two follows at once from the fact
that when an uncrystallized solid expands, it
does so in such a manner that its figure at
one temperature is similar to that at another.
Universal experience demonstrates the truth
of this statement, and it can be very easily
shown that, assuming it to be correct, the
cubical expansion of a substance will then
be as nearly as possible three times as great
as its linear expansion.
Several methods of finding the linear ex-
pansion of solids have been proposed and
adopted by experimentalists. The most com-
mon, although probably not the most accu-
rate form is, to place the metal to be operated
upon in a horizontal position, a few inches
above a table, one end of the metal rigidly
attached to a pillar firmly fixed in one end of
122
AMERICAN EOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the table, and the other end of the metal fitting
freely into a support fixed at a convenient dis-
tance from the first. When heat is applied to
the metal its loose end presses against the
short arm of a lever whose long arm forms a
pointer, which exhibits, by its movements
along a graduated circle, any change of
length in the metal. Thus, were the metal
to expand, the pointer would be pushed up-
wards ; and were it to contract, the pointer
would fall downwards ; and any change in
the length of the metal is thus rendered vis-
ible exactly in the same manner as watch-
makei's measure the size of a piece of work
on the quadrants constructed for the par-
pose.
Another plan which admits of great accu-
racy, and is known as Lavoisier's method, is
to place an axis in a horizontal position on
the top of two pillars, such as are used for
a transit in a permanent observatory. A
stout bar is rigidly fixed to this axis, and
hangs between the pillars, and is attached to
the metal to be operated upon. One end of
the axis projects be3Tond one of the pillars,
and carries a telescope pointing to a vertical
scale of inches placed at a considerable dis-
tance. The action of this instrument will be
seen at a glance. When the metal under
trial expands or contracts in length, the bar
hanging between the pillars will be moved ;
consequently the telescope will be moved
also, and indicate the different divisions on
the vertical scale it is pointing to.
Other most elaborate instruments have been
devised for this purpose, but the principles
upon which they are founded are either the
same as the two already mentioned, or a com-
bination of them both. Wedgewood's py-
rometer is an instrument for measuring very
high temperatures, and its action depends on
the contraction which takes place in baked
clay when heated. An air thermometer, how-
ever, furnishes a much more accurate means
of obtaining the same result, and Breguet's
Metallic Thermometer may also be used with
great advantage. In some forms of the py-
rometer the metal that is being experimented
upon is placed in a trough or bath filled with
water, and the heat communicated to it by
heating the water.
Tae following table of the linear expansion
of solids, has been lately arranged by Pro-
fessor Balfour Stewart, LL.D. F.R.S., and
Superintendent of the Observatory at Kew,
England, and exhibits the results obtained by
various pyrometers. It is instructive to notice
sometimes the coincidence between the deter-
mination of different observers, and some-
times the difference between those of the
same observer when operating upon different
specimens of the same substance.
We suppose that by means of the methods
already described a great amount of accuracy
of measurement may be obtained, yet there
is an uncertainty regarding the real tempera-
ture of the experimental bar, and this becomes
very great for temperatures above the boiling
point of water. In such cases, where a bath
is used, it is not only very difficult to keep
this at a constant temperature, but it is also
very difficult to estimate accurately the tem-
perature by means of a thermometer. This
uncertainty with regard to estimation applies
still more strongly to higher temperatures ;
but for the range between freezing and boil-
ing water, which is that of the foregoing table,
it may perhaps be assumed that the deter-
minations are very good. Whence, then,
proceed the differences between the results of
different observers, and even between those of
the same obssrver when estimating the ex-
pansion of different specimens of the same
substance. This is probably due to two
causes. In the first place, substances which
bear the same name are not always of the
same chemical composition. Of these, gk ss
may be mentioned as a prominent example ;
and accordingly we find the expansion of this
substance ranging in the table from .000918
to .000776. Brass, cast-iron, and steel are
likewise compounds of which the composition
is variable. But besides this, the commercial
varieties of those substances which, when
pure, are elementary, such as iron, leid, silver,
gold, etc., often contain a very appreciable
amount of impurity, so that the composition
of different specimens is by no means uniform.
Very often, too, a comparatively small im-
purity causes a very great alteration in some
of the properties of a metal. In the next
place it ought to be observed that two solids
may have precisely the same chemical com-
position, while yet their molecular condition
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
123
inay be different, owing to a difference in the
treatment which they have received. Thus
steel, heated and suddenly cooled, is a very
different substance from steel which has not
been treated in this manner ; and accordingly
we find that while steel tempered yellow has
for its expansion .0001240, untempered steel
has .0010S0. Glass, also, will behave in a
different manner, according as it is annealed
or unannealed ; and in certain cases it is al-
most impossible to obtain two bars, although
made of precisely the same material, which
shall, in all their properties be precisely
alike.
Name of Substance. •
Length at 212° Fhr. of
a rod whose length at Name of Observer.
32° = 1.000000.
1.000876
1.000898
1.000918
1 000812
1.000872
1.000776
1.000808
1.000861
1.001722
1.001712
1.001716
4 001867
1 001890
1.001855
1.001893
1 001220
1.001235
1.001182
1.001156
1.001079
1 001080
1.001240
1.001145
1 001109
1.001072
1.002848
1.002788
1.001938
1 002173
1.001767
1.001910
1.001909
1.001951
1 001466
1 001552
1 001514
1.001230
1.000884
1.000857
1.002976
Lavoisier and Laplace.
ii 1 1
Glass English flint
ii tt
" tube
ii it
Roy and Ramsden.
Dulong and Petit.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
tl It
Lavoisier and Laplace.
Roy and Ramsden.
tt tt
Lavoisier and Laplace.
" (English plate in a rod five feet long. . .
Dulong and Petit.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
ii ii
ii it
Roy and Ramsden.
ii it
it
Daniell.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
Daniell.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
it it
Tin (Kast Indies)
" (Falmouth)
Daniell.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
it tt
Daniell.
Lavoisier and Laplace.
ti it
tt ii
ii
Dulong and Petit.
Zinc
The expansion of metals by heat, and their
subsequent contraction, are often employed
with great advantage in the arts, and fre-
quently as most efficient mechanical powers.
The amount of force which produces these
expansions and contractions is enormous,
being equal to the mechanical power required
to stretch or compress the solids in which
they take place, to the same amount. On
heating an iron sphere of 12| inches diameter,
from 32° to 212° Fahr., the expansion exerts
a force of 60,000 lbs. upon every square inch
of its surface, or 30,000,000 lbs. upon the
whole sphere. A bar of iron one square
inch in section is stretched Ttrhra part of its
length by a ton weight; the same elongation,
and an equal amount of force, is exerted by
increasing its temperature 16° Fahr. In a
range of temperature from winter to summer
of 80° a wrought-iron bar 10 inches long will
vary in length t-oVo- oi" an inch, and will exert
a pressure, if its two ends be fastened, of 50
tons upon the square inch.
The immense force of expansion is clearly
proved in many notable instances in large
works of engineering where iron is largely
used as a material of construction. The
Southwark Bridge, over the Thames, at Lon-
don, is constructed of iron, and surmounted
by stone, and the arcs rise and fall one inch
124
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
within the usual range of atmospheric tem-
perature. The Hungerford Chain Suspension
Bridge, also over the Thames, has a span of
1,352 feet in length ; the height of this chain
roadway varies in the hottest day in summer
and the coldest day in winter to the extent of
eight inches.
The Menai Suspension Bridge weighs
20,000 tons, and this is raised and lowered
14 inches by the change of temperature be-
tween winter and summer. The Victoria
Bridge, at Montreal, is exposed to great vicis-
situdes of heat and cold, and it is found that
beams of iron, 200 feet in length, are subject
to a movement of three inches in the climate
of Canada. It would be a curious and in-
structive calculation for some of our young
friends to determine how many pounds less
of telegraph wire, or the number of tons less
of railroad iron, is required to stretch across
this Continent in winter than is required in
summer.
Aeriform fluids are greatly expanded by
heat, and much more than either solids or
liquids, for the same increase of temperature
With equal increase of heat they all expand
equally. If, therefore, the ratio of expansion
for one gas, as oxygen, be known, then the
ratio for common air and for all other gases
will be known also. The ratio of expansion
for all gases has been found to be about ^-^j
of the volume which the gas possessed at 32°
for every degree of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
This calculation is based upon the experi-
ments of Gay Lussac, who found that 1,000
cubic inches of atmospheric air raised from
the freezing point to the boiling point, were ex-
panded so as to make 1,375 cubic inches. It
follows, therefore that one cubic inch of at-
mospheric air at 32° will, if raised to 212°,
be expanded to 1.375 cubic inches, and for
everj' additional 180° it will receive a like in-
crease of volume. The ratio of expansion
being ?i^ for 1°, if any volume of air at 32°
be raised to the temperature of 32° -)-490o =
522°, it will expand to twice its volume; and
if it be raised to a temperature of 32° -f-
(2° X 490°)= 1,012°, it will be expanded to
three times its volume, and so on. Later
experiments have slightly altered this ratio,
and show that the different gases do not all
expand to exactly the same degree for equal
increase of heat ; the inequality may how-
ever be disregarded for all practical purposes.
In general the gases and vapors all dilate
equally, and to the same degree as atmos-
pheric air.
It is a striking fact, that water at certain
temperatures does not obey the usual law of
expansion from heat, and contraction from
cold. Between 32° and 40°, if water be
heated it contracts ; if it be cooled it expands.
If therefore water at the temperature of 60°
be cooled, it will contract till it reaches 40° ;
and then, if it be cooled to a lower degree
than this, it will expand. At 40°, therefore,
water is said to possess its maximum density.
At the moment of congelation water also un-
dergoes a still further expansion ; and this
takes place with irresistible power, so that
the vessels in which it is confined, if they be
full are infallibly broken. This is the cause
of the bursting of water-pipes at the ap-
proach of winter. This expansion is suppos-
ed to be due to the crystallization of the wat-
er as it freezes, and to the fact that the crys-
tals which are formed do not lie side by side
closely packed together, but cross each other
at angles of 60° and 120°, thus leaving large
interstices, and the water therefore necessa-
rily occupies more space than it did before.
The force with which this expansion takes
place is very great, and cannon filled with
water and plugged at the muzzle, may readily
be burst. In 1784-5 Major Williams, at Que-
bec, made some experiments upon this sub-
ject, in one of which an iron plug three
pounds in weight was projected from a bomb-
shell to the distance of 415 feet, and shells
one and a half and two inches in thickness
were burst by freezing of the water. The
Florentine Academicians burst a hollow brass
globe having a cavity of only an inch, by
freezing the water with which it was filled ;
and it has been estimated that the expansive
power in this case was equal to 27,720 pounds.
Water is not the only liquid wmich expands
as it solidifies. The same effect has been ob-
served in a few others, which assume a high-
jy crystalline structure on becoming solid.
Melted antimony, bismuth, iron, and zinc, are
examples of it. (Mercury is a remarkable
instance of the reverse, for when it freezes it
surfers a very great contraction.) It is on
AMEBICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOTIKNAL.
121
account of this property that fine castings
can be made from iron. The metal, as it
cools and solidifies, expands so as to force
into the most delicate lines of the mould.
Antimony possesses this property in a high
degree, and for this reason is mixed with tin
and lead to form type metal, and give the
mixture the property of expanding into the
moulds in which the types are cast. It is be-
cause gold and silver do not possess this
property, but on the contrary shrink greatly
as they cool in the moulds, that coins cannot
be made by casting, but require to be
stamped.
Liquids expand more for a given increase
of heat than so ids. Alcohol, on being heated
from 32° to 212°, increases in bulk -^ ; olive
oil r\f ; water -^g-. Twenty gal'on? of alcohol
measured in January will become twenty-one
in July. The cubical expansion of a liquid
may be either real or apparent. By apparent
expansion is meant the apparent increase of
volume of a liquid confined in a vessel which
expands, but in a less degree than the liquid
which it contains. By real or absolute ex-
pansion is meant the true change of volume
of the liquid without reference to the contain-
ing vessel. One of the various methods em-
ployed for this purpose is to fill the bulb of a
thermometer, of which the internal volume or
capacity is supposed to be known, at the
various temperatures of observation. This
bulb is attached to a graduated stem, and the
internal capacity of each division of this stem
is likewise supposed to be known. When
this instrument has been filled with the liquid
under examination it is exposed to different
temperatures, and for each of these the posi-
tion which the extremity of the liquid occu-
pies in the stem is accurately noted. It is
clear that by this means the volume of the
liquid for each temperature becomes known,
and hence the amount of its real expansion
may be easily deduced.
J^ST" It is with sincere regret that we learn,
through Mr. Geo. E. Wilkin, of Syracuse, of
the death of the wife of Mr. Moisritz Gross-
mann, after a long and painful illness of many
months. Mr. Grossmann has many admirers
in this country who will sympathize with him
in his affliction.
SOFT SOLDEB.
It is often very convenient, and, in fact,
sometimes necessary, to have soft solder
which will flow at different degrees of tem-
perature. Many instances occur in which
jobs cannot (in the country) be done by a
professional jeweller, consequently the watch-
maker is expected to do whatever nobody else
can ; and he must often run the risk of spoil-
ing work by subjecting it to too intense a
heat; whereas, if he had a little easy-flowing
soft solder, there would be no danger.
From the following table you can easily
prepare such as you wish — if only a little of
some of the sorts; it will be found conveni-
ent :
1 part Tin, 25 Lead— melts at 580° F.
No.
9.
10.
11.
12. 6
13. 4
14
15.
16.
17.
18.
10
"
" " 541
5
"
" " 511
3
"
" " 482
2
it
" " 441
1
"
.< « 370
1
"
" " 334
1
"
" " 340
1
" " 356
1
<<
" " 365
1
"
« ,< 378
1
"
" " 381
4
" 1 pt.
Bism'th 320
3
" 1 "
" 310
2
"1 "
" 292
1
"1 "
" 254
2
"2 "
" 236
3
"3 "
" 202
No. 8 is the common tinsmith solder. No.
7 is the most fusible, unless bismuth be ad-
ded. No. 18 will melt at 122°, by the addition
of 3 parts of mercury. The most convenient
form for using soft solder is to have it in
wire. It is very easy to have it in that form;
for when you have it melted in a ladle, in
pouring it out on a flat iron or stone you
must trail it — that is, draw your ladle along
so as to flow out on the stone a thread of
metal. With a little practice you cannot but
succeed. Any of these alloys will flow with
the ordinary soldering fluid.
Another convenience for soft soldering is
not as much used as it might be, and would
save injury to many a job; that is, a soldering
iron, the same as a tinsmith's, only minu'er.
A piece of copper wire, an inch long and one-
fourth inch thick, filed away almost to a
point, with a wire handle about 4 inches long,
126
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
terminated by a bit of wood or cork. In
using, heat the copper in the lamp flame by
laying- it across something, to save time, and
when hot enough to melt the solder, touch
the end into your pickle, which will brighten
it; then touch it to a bit of solder, and it will
instantly take it up. Then you can apply it
at any point you wish, without heating the
balance of the article in hand.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE ADDENDUM OF A
TRAIN WHEEL TOOTH BY CO-ORDINATES.
The formation of the curves of the adden-
dum of a train wheel tooth by sections of the
epicycloid is attended with considerable diffi-
culty. In order to get a tooth large enough
to form a complete curve, by the ordinary
method of mechanical drawings, the space
required for the radi? of the primitive and
generating circles passes much beyond the
limits of the general appliances. Hence it
follows that there is a great obstacle in the
way of many horologists for getting a knowl-
edge of the properties of an epicycloidal tooth.
This difficulty is surmounted by the method
of coordinates, by which a tooth of any mag-
nitude is easily constructed, without the ne-
cessity of drawing the primitive or generating
circle. A reference to Fig. 1 will explain the
basis of this method.*
Let a b and a1 b1 represent the tooth of a
wheel of 60 teeth, terminated at the pitch
circle rn m ' . Let A be the centre of the prim-
itive or pitch circle (i. e., centre of the wheel),
A a its radius; and let n be the centre of the
generating circle, and n a its radius, propor-
tioned to the radius of a pinion of 6 leaves,
and here representing one leaf in line with
the line of centres n A. By a revolution of
the pitch circle of 6° the radius n a will ro-
tite through an angle of 60°, and n3 will
then be the position of the centre of the gen-
erating circle, and n3 a- the position of the
face of the adjacent leaf ; here again in line
of centres n 3 A. With the centre of genera-
ting circle in n, o is a point in the arc ol co-
inciding with a. With the centre in nl, this
* The diagrams cannot make any pretence to ac-
curacy, and are only given to illustrate the method
set forth.
point o lies in the arc o o2; with the centre in
n2 it lies in arc o o3, and with the centre in
n3 it lies in arc o o4, its radius forming, with
the radius of the pitch circle, the angles on1
A, o n2 A and o w3 A — these being respect-
ively 20°, 40° and 60°. The generating point
o has therefore a triple motion, viz. : it re-
volves about A, rotates about n, and radiates
from A.
The measurement of these motions of the
generating point o enables us to determine
so many points in the curve as are deemed
essential in their relation to fixed points and
lines, which lines are called coordinates.
Let a a1, y3 y4, Fig. 2, represent the section
of sector equal to the angular measure of a
tooth and terminated by the pitch circle and
the extremity of the addendum; a a1 will then
equal the width of a tooth measured at the
pitch circle, which is taken equal in magni-
tude to the space; then by finding the mag-
nitude of the parallels, the points o, as the
points of intersection, can be determined, and
the joining of these points will form the epi-
cycloidal addendum.
Proportions and Definitions for a Drawing.
— Make a a1 =12; bisect it and draw the per-
pendicular m n = 12.212. Draw the paral-
lel y3 y4, and make n y3 and n y* each =6.3;
therefore y3 y* = 12.6; join y3 a and y* a1 .
Draw perpendiculars to a y3 and a y*, from
o and x ; then determine 15 points in the
curve a o o o, as follows : Measure off on the
lines a x and a1 x —
1 = 0022
2= 0144
3 = 0467
4 = 1038
5 = 2122
6 = 3720
7= 5662
8= 8613
9= 1.2215
10= 1.6655
11 = 2 2029
12= 2 8404
13= 3.5827
14 = , 4.4421
15 = 5.4235
On the lines ay3 and a1 y* measure off —
1 = 0610
2= 2451
3= 5402
4= 9714
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
127
128
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUBNAL.
5 = 1.5153
6== 2.1689
7 = 2.9314
8= 3.7927
9= 4.7623
10= 5.8187
11 = 6.9600
12 = 8.1791
13= 9.4663
14 = 10.8156
15= 12.2160
Draw parallels from the points measured
off, as indicated in Fig. 2, join the points of
their intersection and the curves are com-
plete.
The following formulas will give the coor-
dinates :
Let a = the radius of the primitive circle
= to radius of a wheel of 60 teeth; b — the
radius of generating circle, = to radius of
pinion of 6 leaves ; c = the line of the circle,
d= / o A n3 (Fig. 1); then (Fig. 1) point o
x = sin (6°-d) (sec d. c-cos 60°6)
y = ^cos (6°— d) (sec. d. c-cos. 60°6)~) - a
Observation. — The pract;cal construction of
a perfect epicycloidal tooth by an engine with
a curved cutter, which is formed artificially,
cannot be demonstrated. My limited knowl-
edge of the wheel cutting engines used in
United States watch factories, leads me to
suppose that they are of this description.
While such is the case, no definite calibre in
the pitckings, and vice versa, is reliable. I am
prepared to say that engines can be con-
structed which will cut an epicycloidal tooth
to mathematical accuracy. The line of cen-
tres will then be determined by gauging the
wheel, and vice versa, instead of using the
depthing tool, which is an engine of destruc-
tion in the hands of unskilled workmen.
J. Hermann.
21 Northampton Square,
London, Oct. 10, 1870.
[There can be no doubt that the subject of
the proper curves of the acting faces of the
teeth and leaves of wheels and pinions, con-
sidered not merely from a theoretical point
of view, but in the reduction of scientific
theories to actual practice, demands the
closest investigation on the part of all me-
chanicians, whether watchmakers or mill-
wrights, who construct gearing of any de-
cription. And although it may not always
be possible to impart to wheels and pinions,
with mathematical precision, those curves
that in theory produce the least possible fric-
tion, and consequently the greatest economy
of motive power and the minimum of wear,
still the mechanic who aims at the best re-
sults should, even with limited appliances,
endeavor, at any rate, to approximate to that
which is scientific, and if he can be guided in
his practice by his eye only, in shaping or se-
lecting wheels and pinions, then it is impor-
tant he should be able to draw on paper the
proper form for the teeth and leaves of
wheels and pinions of any numbers, that he
may thereby educate his eye to a knowledge
of the requisite epicycloidal curve. Any
gross departure in practice from the true
theory in this respect will, in horology, oven
though every thing else be of the highest order
of excellence, produce poor time-keeping,
thus defeating the primary object of a time-
keeper ; in the application of the rack and
pinion movement, it will cause an unpleasant
jerking and rubbing sensation, and ultimate
destruction of the parts ; and in cam move-
ments, such as the lifting of mill stamps, the
valve rods of marine engines, and kindred
appliances, a heavy jarring, caused by an im-
proper relation between the velocity of the
acting part of the cam and the inertia of the
corresponding lifted body, is full of ruin to
costly machinery at every stroke. We men-
tion these two last movements because the
principles that govern their construction are
analogous to those of the wheel and pinion.
We are sure our readers will not accuse us
of any desire of disparaging their intelligence
if we remark that the publication of the fore-
going scientific elucidation of a method of
delineating the epicycloidal curve of a wheel
tooth, which has been kindly furnished to us by
the talented teacher of drawing in the British
Horological Institute, will be shooting over
the heads of a great number, who would be
far more interested in some article giving a
short cut to success in the repairing line,
which is all well enough in its place ; but, on
the other hand, we are consoled by the reflec-
tion that the list of our readers includes the
names of many who thirst after knowledge,
and to such we take an especial pleasure in
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
123
introducing the above-mentioned author and I
i
his subject.
Referring to the " Observation " in the j
closing part of the article, we may say that!
we quite agree with Mr. Hermann when he
says the curve of the tooth of any watch
wheel cannot be demonstrated to be epicy-
cloidal, even though it be such. Still, the
attempt is made, at least in our watch facto-
ries, to produce that curve, and, it is claimed,
with success. Whether the pitchings are re-
liable, and the depths on the whole are good,
can be tested by actual experiment in a
depthing tool, but if the general satisfaction
with which the American watches are re-
garded, by both wearers and repairers, is any
indication of success in the application of
sound principles, then it must be conceded
that any errors and inaccuracies they may
possess, as a class, are not more than are
incidental to the manufacture of such minute
work by machinery. We hope Mr. Hermann
will give our readers the benefit of his views
on the construction of an engine for cutting
" an epicycloidal tooth to mathematical ac-
curacy."— Ed.]
ADJUSTMENTS TO POSITIONS, ISOCHKONISJi
AND COMPENSATION.
NUMBEB TWO.
We have, in the first number, on the subject
of adjustment to position, endeavored to
show that it can be accomplished on the prin-
ciple of presenting equal surfaces of the
pivots of the balance to friction ; for, if equal
surfaces touch equal surfaces in all positions
during the oscillation of the balance, the fric-
tion must be equal in all positions ; and, if
the friction is in all positions the same, the
arcs of vibrations of the balance will also be
the same in ail positions ; and since equal
arcs of vibrations are performed in equal
time, the watch will in all positions run
alike.
Now, directly from the above reasoning we
infer, that if the arcs of vibrations are un-
equal in different positions, the friction must
be unequal ; and we are therefore enabled to
determine inequality of fiiction, by observing
the arcs of vibrations ; and since we know
that the lesser friction produces the greater
arcs of vibration we also know in which posi-
tion to remedy the inequality in the friction.
We have thus bi-iefly stated our reasoning,
for the purpose of contrasting it with the
method generally adopted among watch-
makers to determine unequal friction, which
consists of observing the running of the
watch, and then altering the condition of the
pivots according to the difference of the time
it indicates in different positions during the
same number of hours, and on the theory
that the watch will go faster under the influ-
ence of less friction, and slower when the
friction is greater. But we may ask the ques-
tion, why will it go faster with less f iction,
and slower with more ? If we admit that
there is such a thing as a principle of isoch-
ronism in the hair-spring under certain con-
ditions, which would cause arcs of vibrations
of unequal extent to be performed in the
same time, we could not infer that the advo-
cates of this theory supposed such a spring to
be in the watch, for, as we have just said, we
know that less friction produces greater arcs
of vibration. But they say less friction makes
the watch go faster ; and if such a hair-spring
is not supposed to be in the watch, our ques-
tion is equally unanswerable, for our experi-
ence teaches us that, according as circum-
stances are, greater arcs of vibration may be
performed either slower or faster. The fact
is, that, as to adjustment to position, the
faster or slower running of a watch proves
nothing.
But we think we have sufficiently indicated
the means of adjusting to position, and will
therefore proceed to investigate the next
adjustment — that of isochronit-m. We have
promised in our last to furnish a translation
of Prof. Phillips's theory, and we know of no
better authority on the subj< ct ; but as his
reasoning is of the very highest order, and
the subject necessarily a troublesome one,
since the essentially complex form of the
hair-spring introduces into the application of
the theory of the elasticity some of the most
complicated differential equations, it will be
difficult for those who are not acquainted with
mathematical logic, to follow it throughout ;
nevertheless it is to be hoped that those who
130
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUBNAL.
feel a real interest in the subject will be en-
couraged by the value of it, to study them-
selves those sciences in order to be able to
understand it. It would be difficult to write
into plain English all the demonstrations in
the higher calculus and trigonometry, but we
will endeavor to give such hints, as will never-
theless convey the result of the reasoning to
the minds of those who will follow it atten-
tively, although they may not understand the
process.
The theory of the isochronism of a cylin-
drical as well as of a flat hair-spring is here
based upon the principle that, during the vi-
brations of the balance, as well as when it is
at rest, the centre of the coils — considering
them as circles drawn around the axis of the
balance — shall always coincide with the cen-
tre of the axis of the balance, and that there-
fore this shall also be, during arcs of what-
ever extent of the vibrations of the balance,
the centre of gravity of the hair-spring. This
he proves can be accomplished by certain
terminal curves of the hair-spring, to find
which, is the main object of the treatise. He
looks upon the question as a mechanical
problem, of which the following is the sub-
stanco : " A hair-spring being attached to a
balance, to find the laws of their common
movement." In practice we have evidently
to take into account secondary details, such
as the influence of the oil, friction, etc ;
nevertheless the solution and rules which
shall be developed satisfy the problem as ab-
solutely as the theory of the pendulum does
in its application to the measurement of time.
He first solves the problem of the equilibrium
of the system of the hair-spring and the bal-
ance, which we shall now give in his own
words, cautioning the reader to keep well in
mind the signs used to express certain quan-
tities.
The hair-spring and the balance being in
their natural position of equilibrium, we sup-
pose the balance to be made to describe an
angle of rotation, a, and we ask what is the
amount of coupling necessary to maintain it
in this new position against the action of the
handspring ?
In order to solve this problem, we arrange
the system under two co-ordinate rectangular
axes passing through the centre O of the bal-
ance, and one of which also passes through
that extremity of the hair-spring which
is fastened. If we consider, in this new
position of equilibrium, the balance and
hair-spring as forming one solid, the system
must be in equilibrium under the action of
the coupling applied to the balance, the
amount of which, G-, is precisely what we
wish to determine. Moreover, the centre of
the balance being stationary, nothing can
hinder it from being considered free, pro-
vided we apply at the point O a force equal
and contrary to the pressure which it exerts
against the sides of the hole. Let us desig-
nate by Y and X the components, according
to O Y and 0 X, of the force thus applied at
the point O, which point we shall then con-
sider free. B being the position occupied by
any point of the hair-spring in the new state
of equilibrium, we call x and y its co-ordi-
nates ; S the length of the hah'-spring, com-
prised between that point and the end of the
hair-spring fastened ; L the total length of
the hair-spring ; M its amount of elasticity ;
finally, p the radius of the curve of the hair-
spring at the point B, in the new position of
equilibrium, and p0 the radius of the curve
at the same point B, in the natural state
of the hair-spring, when the amount G is
null.
In the new state of equilibrium this would
not be disturbed if we solidified the entire
portion of the hair-spring comprised between
the point B and the extremity engaged in the
balance, and we would then have to consider
the equilibrium of a solid formed of this por-
tion of the hair-spring together with the bal-
ance, and subjected on one part to the coup-
ling G, which acts upon the balance, and to
the forces X and Y, on the other hand, to the
molecular actions exercised on the section B
by the non-solidified portion of the hair-
spring. If we transpose to the point B the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
131
forces X and T, as also the coupling G, the
resulting coupling must hold in equili-
brium the molecular action developed by
the non-solidified portion of the spring.
Or, if in order to fix our ideas, we suppose
that the angle of rotation a be in such a
direction that the radius of the curve shall
have diminished at the point B, the amount
of molecular action is equal to
and we shall have
(1) Mfi--) = G + Yz-Xt/.
This equation is applicable to all points of
the hair-spring.
AVe can, therefore, multiply the two mem-
bers by ds and integrate for the entire extent
of the hair- spring, which will give :
Let us first occupy ourselves with the
second member, we have
and
fds = L
Gfds = GJj
Next, if we call xl and yx the coordinates
of the centre of gravity of the hair-spring, it
is evident that
fxds = 'Lxi aQd fy <2s = L yl ;
consequently
Yfx ds = YLa-j andXy*1 yds = XLyl
TTe pass now to the first member of the equa-
d s
tion (2). We see that — is, for the natural
form of the hair-spring, the angle formed by
two consecutive normals, and consequently
/d s
— is nothing else than th^ angle com-
prised between the two normal extremes. In
/d s
— is the angle between two
normal extremes in the new form of the
hair-spring ; but where this has passed from
the first position to the second, the normal,
relative to the extremity fastened, remains
invariable in direction, because it is fastened
at this point. On the other hand, since the
other extremity of the spring is fastened in the
collet of the balance at an angle with the
circle of the collet, which remains also con-
stant because of its being fastened, the result
is, that in passing from the natural position
of the ha^r-spring to the new position of equi-
librium, the normal of the spring, at its ex-
tremity corresponding to the balance, turns
by an angle a.
It follows from what precedes that we have
simply :
/— _ Cds —
p J Pa
and equation (2) becomes
M a = G L + L (Ysb, - Xyt).
Let us admit, for the present, that the term
L (Y xl—~X.y1), which is in the second mem-
ber, be null or negligible — this point will be
fully treated, a little further on, in all that
concerns it, and the necessary conditions
established to prove sufficiently that it is so—
then the equation (3) will be reduced to
M « = G L
or,
(4)
G =
Ma
which expression is very simple, and shows
that the amount of the power of the coupling
tending to move the balance is proportional
to the angle which the latter has described
after leaving the natural position of equi-
librium, and which, moreover, gives the
amount of this coupling expressed in function
of the amount of elasticity and length of the
hair-spring.
Henceforth it is easy to find the time of the
oscillations of the balance. In effect, if we
call A the amount of inertia of the balance,
with respect to its axis of rotation, we have,
in every instance, observing that the power
G acis as a rtsistanct :
Ad— °--G
Adt*~ ^
or, on account of (4)
d
(5)
M,
dl2 ~ L
I designate by a0, the angle of motion of
the balance which answers to the limit of the
oscillation when its swiftness is null, and we
have, by multiplying the two members of (5)
by 'Ida and integrating :
(6) Ad^=T;K-a)"
This expression shows that the angular
swiftness of the balance -^j is indefinitely
132
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
null when a = a0 or when a= — a0, so that,
if it were not for divers passive resistances,
it would always vibrate to the same extent to
each side from its position of equilibrium.
We draw from equation (6)
(7)
/al
It is now time to integrate this equation for
all the values from a— — aQ to a=.a0.
Now
/,
d
|^-C-J
= arc sin — + constant
then
/
-"a -/"
and consequently by designating by T the
time of an oscillation, equation (7) gives :
(8)
T =
' / —
V M
which simple relation gives the time of the
oscillations, and they will be found isochronal
whatever may be their extent. The preced-
ing expression (8) is analogous to that which
gives the time of the smaller oscillations of
the pendulum. We see that the length I of
the simple pendulum, which would perform
its oscillations in the same time as the balance,
would be expressed in the formula
(9)
'-*¥■
As to the further conditions of isochronism,
let us take up equation (3) again, in which
we have neglected the term L Y#, — X^),
and examine under what conditions we can
effectively consider it of no value, on which
will depend definitively the isochronism of
the oscillations and the accuracy of formula
(8).
In the first instance this term would al-
ways be null if x and y were constantly equal
to zero, that is to say, if the centre of gravity
of the hair-spring coincided always with the
centre of the axis of the balance. From this
we infer dii ectly that it is important to give
to the coils of the hair-spring a sensibly cir-
cular form and concentric to the staff, so that
the centre of gravity of the entire spring be
on the staff and deviate from it as little as
possible during its motion.
In the second instance, the term L
(Yx1 — Xy1) would vanish yet if the compon-
ents X and Y were null, and consequently if
the pressure of the staff were always null, or
if this pressure were always at the centre of
gravity of the hair-spring. In fact, in prac-
tice this pressure is always null in well-made
time-pieces, since — provided the oil has not
been neglected — we cannot find the slightest
wear of the pivots or their holes, even after
many years of running. Nevertheless, we
will examine, under all the developments
which the subject shall bring forth, the con-
ditions under which we can rigorously and
mathematically attain to this end. We shall
then see, as a consequence of this analysis,
that if, for the flat hair-spring, we can arrive
at it but for small oscillations of the balance, on
the contrary, for the cylindrical ones we will
obtain this result for the greatest as well as
for the smallest of vibrations, and that by
means of particular theoretical terminal
curves and a total length of the spring, which
is to be neither too long, nor above all too
short.
To this effect we mention, that if X and Y
are null or can be entirely neglected, equation
(1) gives :
I-!— —
P Po~M'3
XL"
or because of (4)
(io) »-!_■.
K P Po L
It follows from this, that then the tension
of the curves is uniform. Thus, if p0 is con-
stant p will be the same, i. e., if the coils have
the form of the circumferences of circles in
their natural state, they will be yet, after their
deformation, circumferences of circles, though
of a different radius.
Reciprocally to what precedes, if we had
always, for all points of the hair-spring
— - ~ =t' i- e-> tne difference; — — constant,
P Po -Li P Po '
equation (1) shows that we would then forci-
bly have Y = o and X = o, and that conse-
quently equation (4) with its consequences
would take place.
We shall, in subsequent numbers, continue
to give a digest together with liberal literal
translations from the work of M. Phillips,
trusting the readers of the Horological
Journal may be benefited thereby.
Horologist.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
133
EXGRAVISG.
In the first volume of the Hokological
Joukxal, was an article on the subject of En-
graving, which treated of the process of
Etching, and gave an explanation of the
geometric lathe, by which dies are engraved,
with combinations of lines forming geometric
figures. "We propose to continue the subject
of engraving, and will speak of the work
which is done by the hand. Almost all en-
gravings are produced by etching, combined
with lines made by the hand. The lines made
with the graver without the use of acid, are
technically called " dry pointed."
For engraving on steel and copper, a few
tools only are necessary. First are the etch-
ing points, of which one or two only are nec-
essary. Second, gravers, two or three of
which are required, which may be lozenge
shaped or square. A scraper and a burnisher
are also required.
The etching points are used to trace
lines through the varnish on the plate, for
the action of the acid. They are also
used to make light lines on the plate, when
acid is not to be employed. The gravers
are used to cut deep and broad lines.
The scraper is used to remove any burr of
metal raised by the graver in cutting. Also
in the kind of engraving called mezzotint, the
different shades of tint are scraped out by
this tool. The burnisher is used to make the
bright lights in mezzotint engraving, and to
remove accidental scratches on plates, and in
line engravings to erase lines that have been
cut too deep.
In mezzotint engravings the plates are pre-
pared by rolling over them in every direction,
a small wheel with sharp points, which cov-
ers the plates entirely with minute dots, and
if printed from, would present a black sur-
face.
"When thus prepared the design is traced
upon the surface, and the engraver takes the
scraper, and scrapes to greater or less depth,
according to the tint required. In the high-
est lights the burnisher is used, as aforesaid.
The effects produced by the mezzotint pro-
cess are very soft. There are no lines, and
the different tints shade into each other, with
delicate gradations ; and this process is also
employed in connection with line engravings,
with happy results.
" Stippling " is a term employed to denote
effects produced by series of dots. "When
used alone, the gradations of shade are made
almost imperceptibly. In all work indica-
ting softness and delicacy, stippling may be
employed to advantage. In most represen-
tations of statuary stippling is used alone,
the absence of lines giving an impression of
the surface of the marble. With line engrav-
ing stippling is also much used. In most
pictures in which human figures are repre-
sented the flesh-tints are produced by stip-
pling, sometimes alone, and sometimes com-
bined with delicate lines. Line engraving
consists of series of lines side by side, of
greater or less depth according to the color
required. "When series of lines cross other
series of lines, the term cross-hatching is
used. It may be observed here that the lines
are cut into the metal ; and to print, the ink is
filled into the lines, the surface of the plate
being made entirely clean. The plates are
then passed under heavy rollers, and an im-
pression is made on paper upon the press.
In former times copper was the principal
material used for plates, but, as a limited
number of impressions could only be made,
steel was substituted for copper. It is harder
to cut than copper, but is so much more dur-
able that it is generally employed, especially
for bank notes. And recently an invention
has been made by which copper plates, after
being engraved, may be faced with steel, thus
increasing their durability.
The introduction and use of steel plates
may be claimed as American. About a
quarter of a century ago, Jacob Perkins in-
vented a method of hardening steel after it
was engraved. By bank-note establishments
this method is extensively employed to obtain
duplicates of designs. A design is engraved
with the finest skill and beauty ; rollers of
softened steel are prepared and passed over
this finely engraved plate, receiving a sharp
impression in relief. These rollers are then
hardened, and are dies, from which may be
made as many impressions as are required.
A large steel plate is softened and a number
of impressions are made from the die on it.
It is then hardened and ready for printing.
134
AMEEICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
To digress a little, we will state that the bank
notes of the United States are the finest in
u ;e in the world. The present bank of Eng-
land notes are printed from an electrotype
surface, and an indifferent quality of paper.
The notes of the Bank of France are also
printed from an electrotype surface, though
in a much neater and more elegant manner
than the Bank of England.
Bank notes require vignette or picture
engraving, letter engraving, and geometric
engraving by machines. The pictures or vig-
nettes are usually executed in lines ; stippling
and mezzotint not being sufficiently durable.
It is customary for engravers to confine
themselves to special departments of art. An
engraver of pictures rarely cuts letters ; and
a letter engraver seldom can engrave pic-
tures. There is also much work that comes
within the province of the letter engraver ;
scroll-work and other ornamental designs are
within the scope of this department. Here-
tofore we have been speaking of engravings
from which impressions are made. But the
letter engraver finds a large field for the exer-
cise of his talents in engraving uptn plate
and jewelry. All lettering is done on silver
and gold, in the same manner as on copper
or steel. In another paper, we will take up
this department of the art, including orna-
mentation and enchasing:.
— o-
HAIR-SP1UNG GAUGE.
Editor Horological Journal :
Noticing in the October number of the
Journal, your answer to A. S. M., of Mass., I
write you respecting a gauge for hair-springs,
which I find the most convenient and best
adapted to the wants of the watch repairer, of
any tool I have seen for this purpose. I have
used Bottom's hair-spring gauge for several
years, until I found this instrument. I re-
fer to the Micrometer, illustrated on page
No. 329, Horological Journal. The instru-
ment I use is a Swiss-made tool, somewhat
different in construction from your illustra-
tion, but, in principle, identical. It cost
$6.50 or $7.00. I find it a perfect tool for
measuring pivots, hair-springs, or any small
article of which it is desirable to know the
exact dimensions. Jewel holes can also be
measured by putting a round broach into the
hole, and measuring the broach. In measur-
ing hair-springs, both the width and thick-
ness can be got, the same as in gauging main-
springs by Dennison's gauge. It can proba-
bly be purchased of any tool and material
dealer in New York; and it is worth much
more than its price to any watch repairer
who wishes to do work with precision.
I have no doubt that by a series of meas-
urements, carefully conducted, a table may be
formed of sizes of springs, weight of bal-
ances, and numbers of vibrations, by which
any repairer may know to a certainty the size
of hair-spring required, when the other con-
ditions are found. E. E. Eawson.
Barton, Vt.
TRANSIT INSTRUMENTS.
Editor Horological Journal :
Among the letters we have received this
month expressing the satisfaction with which
the writers have used our Patent Improved
Transits, were the following, which are a fair
sample of general approval. We enclose
them for publication, believing your readers
will be interested in testimony confirming the
reputation of these instruments for absolute
accuracy.
Helena, Montana Territory,
Nov. 10th, 1870.
Messrs. John Bliss & Co. :
Gentlemen, — In relation to the Transit In-
strument purchased of you last spring, I am
pleased to state that during the past thirty
years I have depended on my own observa -
tions for the purpose of keeping correct time
in which period I have been familiar with
nearly all kinds of instruments used for like
purpose, and I have never used any with
en-eater ease and satisfaction than your watch-
maker's transit. Under your printed instruc-
tions, at my first attempt I placed in proper
position, and recent verifications determine
its constant accuracy. This mode of observa-
tion is made easy by the application of your
splendidly finished and constructed prism ;
magnifying the field of view with such dis-
tinctness enables the operator to mark the
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
135
meridian line to the fraction of a second. I
must say I like the instrument very much. It
is ornamental in the show-cas'-e, easy to use,
and as correct as the most costly instrument.
I "would not change it for any other time-
taking instrument, and without hesitation
I recommend it, particularly for "watchmakers'
use. Yours truly,
Charles Kumlet,
Watchmaker and Jeweller.
Ashtabula, Ohio, Nov. 12th, 1870.
Messrs. John Bliss & Co.:
Gentlemen, — If the Transit could not be
bought for less than twice the money I paid
for it, I would not be without it, after even
the short acquaintance I have had. I enclose
for your inspection my last observation, taken
alone. Respectfully yours,
Geo. "W. Dickinson.
Salem, Mass., Nov. 5th, 1870.
Messrs. John Bliss & Co. :
Gentlemen, — After a thorough test of the
Transit Instrument I bought of you in Oct.,
1868, I find it all you represented it to be — if
anything, beyond my expectations. I would
most cheerfully recommend it to all in want
of such. Yours truly,
W. H.Kehew.
WORN RIMS.
EDITOB HOEOI.OGICAL JoUKNAIil
It is a great annoyance to watch-wearers
to have the rim of hunting cases so worn by
the friction of the springs that they will not
close tight, or perhaps not stay closed at all.
This trouble can be frequently remedied by
undercutting the rim at such an angle that
the spring will draw the case tight. I have
always found it difficult to do this neatly with
a graver, or other hand tool. I now use, for
this purpose, the ordinary steel ratchet wheel,
taken from the material box, mounted on the
lathe as a cutting burr. A wheel should be
selected with very fine teeth; and if not hard,
it should be hardened, the same as any other
cutting tool, and mounted on the live spindle
in the most convenient manner.
This burr will cut and finish a square hole in
a main-spring so narrow as to be difficult to
punch, besides saving the risk of breaking
small files in finishing the hole; the spring
to be cut should be bent backwards, so that
the hole will not be cut too long. It will also
cut solder from the grooves in spectacles af-
ter mending, and do a hundred other little
things that no file will do.
I noticed some time since, in your paper,
an item about the use of the potato for pro-
tecting stones, enamel, chasing, and engra-
ving from the effects of heat, in hard soldering.
That was the process taught me in my ap-
prenticeship, and that I followed until lately;
then I heard of another way, which is cleaner,
and absolutely sure to effect the object, if
carefully done : The part to be protected
should be well covered with a thick paste of
whiting and water.
This may be new to some, as it was to me
a year ago, and will prove to all who try it a
valuable process. B. F. H.
Sao Harbor, L. I.
LIGHT.
In reply to numerous inquiries and sugges-
tions in regard to this subject, we perhaps
cannot do our readers a greater kindness,
than to lay before them the remarks of Mr.
John Tyndall, of London.
general considerations — rectilinear propaga-
tion OF LIGHT.
The ancients supposed light to be pro-
duced and vision excited by something emit-
ted from the eye. The moderns hold vision
to be excited by something that strikes the
eye from without. What that something is
we shall consider more closely subsequently.
Luminous bodies are independent sources
of light. They generate it and emit it, and do
not receive their light from other bodies. The
sun, a star, a candle-flame, are examples.
Illuminated bodies are such as receive the
light by which they are seen from luminous
bodies. A house, a tree, a man, are exam-
ples. Such bodies scatter in all directions the
light which they receive ; this light reaches
the eye, and through its action the illuminated
bodies are rendered visible.
All illuminated bodies scatter or reflect
light, and they are distinguished from each
136
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
other by the excess or defect of light which
they send to the eye. A white cloud in a
dark-blue firmament is distinguished by its
excess of light ; a dark pine-tree projected
against the same cloud is distinguished
through its defect of light.
Look at any print of a visible object. The
light comes from that point in straight lines
to the eye. The lines of light, or rays, as they
are called, that reach the pupil furru a cone,
with the pupil for a base, and with the point
for an apex. The point is always seen at the
place where the rays which form the surface
of this cone intersect each other, or, as we
shall learn immediately, where they seem to
intersect each other.
Light, it has just been said, moves in
straight lines ; you see a luminous object by
means of the rays which it sends to the eye,
but you cannot see round a corner. A small
obstacle that intercepts the view of a visible
point is always in the straight line between
the eye and the point. In a dark room let a
small hole be made in a window shutter, an
let the sun shine through the hole. A
narrow luminous beam will mark its course
on the dust of the room, and the track of the
beam will be perfectly straight.
Imagine the aperture to diminish in size
until the beam passing through it and mark-
ing itself upon the dust of the room shall
dwindle to a mere line in thickness. In this
condition the beam is what we call a ray of
light.
FORMATION OF IMAGES THROUGH SMALL APERTURES.
Instead of permitting the direct sunlight to
enter the room by the small aperture, let the
light from some body illuminated by the
sun — a tree, a house, a man, for example — be
permitted to enter. Let this light be received
upon a white screen placed in the dark room.
Every visible point of the object sends a
straight ray of light through the aperture.
The ray carries with it the color of the point
from which it issues, and imprints that color
upon the screen. The sum total of the rays
falling thus upon the screen produces an
inverted image of the object. The image is
inverted because the rays cross each other at
the aperture.
Experimental Illustration. — Place a lighted
candle in a small camera with a small orifice
in one of its sides, or a large one covered by
tinfoil. Prick the tinfoil with a needle ; the
inverted image of the flame will immediately
appear upon a screen placed to receive it. By
approaching the camera to the screen, or the
screen to the camera, the size of the image is
diminished ; by augmenting the distance
between them, the size of the image is
increased.
The boundary of the image is formed by
drawing1 from every point of the outline of the
object straight lines through the aperture,
and producing these lines until they cut the
screen. This could not be the case if the
straight lines and the light rays were not
coincident.
Some bodies have the power of permitting
light to pass freely through them ; they are
transparent bodies. Others have the power of
rapidly quenching the light that enters them ;
they are opaque bodies. There is no such
thing as perfect transparency or perfect
opacity. The purest glass and crystal quench
some rays ; the most opaque metal, if thin
enough, permits some rays to pass through
it. The redness of the London sun in smoky
weather is due to the partial transparency of
soot for the red light. Pure water at great
depths is blue ; it quenches more or less the
red rays. Ice when seen in large masses in
the glaciers of the Alps is blue also.
SHADOWS.
As a consequence of the rectilinear motion
of light, opaque bodies cast shadows. If the
source of light be a point, the shadow is
sharply defined ; if the source be a luminous
surface, the perfect shadow is fringed by an
imperfect shadow called a penumbra.
When light emanates irom a point, the
shadow of a sphere placed in the light is a
divergent cone sharply defined.
When light emanates from a luminous
globe, the perfect shadow of a sphere equal to
the globe in size will be a cylinder ; it will be
bordered by a penumbra.
If the luminous sphere be the larger of the
two, the perfect shadow will be a convergent
cone ; it will be surrounded by a penumbra.
This is the character of the shadows cast by
the earth and moon in space ; for the sun is
a sphere larger than either the earth or the
moon.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
137
To an eye placed in the true conical shadow
of the moon, the sun is totally eclipsed ; to
an eye in the penumbra, the sun appears
horned ; while to an eye placed beyond the
apex of the conical shadow and within the
space enclosed by the surface of the cone
produced, the eclipse is annular. All these
eclipses are actually seen from time to time
from the earth's surface.
The influence of magnitude may be experi-
mentally illustrated by means of a batswing
or fishtail flame ; or by a flat oil or paraffine
flame. Holding an opaque rod between the
flame and a white screen, the shadow is sharp
when the edge of the flame is turned towards
the rod. When the broad surface of the
flame is pointed to the rod, the real shadow
is fringed by a penumbra.
As the distance from the screen increases,
the penumbra encroaches more and more up-
on the perfect shadow, and finally obliterates
it.
It is the angular magnitude of the sun
that destroys the sharpness of solar shadows.
In sunlight, for example, the shadow of a
hair is sensibly washed away at a few inches
distance from the surface on which it falls.
The electric light, on the contrary, emanating
as it does from small carbon points, casts a
defined shadow of a hair upon a screen many
feet distant.
EXEEEBLEMEXT OF LIGHT BY DISTANCE LAW OF
INTEL SE SQUARES.
Light diminishes in intensity as we recede
from the source of light. If the luminous
source be a point, the intensity diminishes as
the square of the distance increases. Calling the
quantity of light falling upon a given surface
at the distance of a foot or a yard — 1, the
quantity falling on it at a distance of 2 feet
or 2 yards is \, at a distance of 3 feet or 3
yards it is \, at a distance of 10 feet or 10
yards it would be -j-i-g-, and so on. This is the
meaning of the law of inverse squares as ap-
plied to light.
Experimental Illustrations. — Place your
source of light, which may be a candle-flame —
though the law is in strictness true only for
points — at a distance say of 9 feet from a white
screen. Hold a square of pasteboard, or
some other suitable material, at a distance of
2 \ feet from the flame, or £th of the distance
of the screen. The square casts a shadow
upon the screen.
Assure yourself that the area of this
shadow is sixteen times that of the square
which casts it ; a student of Euclid will see
in a moment that this must be the case, and
those who are not geometers can readily satis-
fy themselves by actual measurement. Divid-
ing, for example, each side of a sqiiare sheet
of paper into four equal parts, and folding
the sheet at the opposite points of division, a
small square is obtained TVth of the area of
the large one. Let this small square, or
one equal to it, be your shadow- casting
body. Held at 2 \ feet from the flame, its shad-
ow upon the screen 9 feet distant will be ex-
actly covered by the entire sheet of paper.
When therefore the small square is removed,
the light that fell upon it is diffused over six-
teen times the area on the screen ; it is there-
fose diluted to TVth of its former intensity.
That is to say, by augmenting the distance
four-fold we diminish the light sixteen-fold.
Make the same experiment by placing a
square at the distance of 3 feet from the
source of light and 6 from the screen. The
shadow now cast by the square will have nine
times the area of the square itself ; hence the
light falling on the square is diffused over
nine times the surface upon the screen. It is
therefore reduced to \ of its intensity. That
is to say, by trebling the distance from the
source of light we diminish the light nine-
fold.
Make the same experiment at a distance of
4| feet from the source. The shadow here
will be four times the area of the shadow-
casting square, and the light diffused over the
greater square will be reduced to |th of its
former intensity. Thus, by doubling the dis-
tance from the source of light we reduce the
intensity of the light four-fold.
Instead of beginning with the distance of
2£ feet from the source, we might have begun
with a distance of 1 foot. The area of the
shadow in this case would be eighty-one
times that of the square which casts it ;
proving that at 9 feet distance the intensity
of the light is -gf of what it is at 1 foot dis-
tance.
Thus when the distances are
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc.,
138
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the relative intensities are
liii i ii ii pfp
-1' 4» ¥> T"5"' 3T> '3"S'> 7"5"' "6T> "ST' elo#
This is the numerical expression of the law of
inverse squares.
PHOTOMETRY, OR THE MEASUREMENT OF LIGHT.
The law just established enables us to com-
pare one light with another, and to express
by numbers their relative illuminating pow-
ers.
The more intense a light, the darker is the
shadow which it casts ; in other words, the
greater is the contrast between the illumi-
nated and unilluminated surface.
Place an upright rod in front of a white
screen and a candle flame at some distance
behind the rod, the rod casts a shadow upon
the screen.
Place a second flame by the side of the
first, a second shadow is cast, and it is easy
to arrange matters so that the shadows shall
be close to each other, thus offering them-
selves for easy comparison to the eye. If
when the lights are at the same distance from
the screen the two shadows are equally dark,
then the two lights have the same illumina-
ting power.
But if one of the shadows be darker than
the other, it is because its corresjuonding
light is brighter than the other. Remove
the brighter light farther from the screen,
the shadows gradually approximate in depth,
and at length the eye can perceive no differ-
ence between them. The shadow correspond-
ing to each light is now illuminated by the
other light, and if the shadows are equal it is
because the quantities of light cast by both
upon the screen are equal.
Measure the distances of the two lights
from the screen, and square these distances.
The two squares wDl express the relative
illuminating powers of the two lights. Sup-
posing one distance to be 3 feet and the
other 5, the relative illuminating powers are
as 9 to 25.
BRIGHTNESS.
But if light diminishes so rapidly with the
distance — if, for example, the light of a can-
dle at the distance of a yard is 100 times
more intense than at the distance of 10 yards
— how is it that on looking at lights in
churches or theatres, or in large rooms, or at
our street lamps, a light 10 yards off appears
almost, if not quite, as bright as one close at
hand ?
To answer this question I must anticipate
matters so far as to say that at the back of
the eye is a screen, woven of nerve filaments,
named the retina ; and that when we see a
light distinctly, its image is formed upon this
screen. This point will be fully developed
when we come to treat of the eye. Now the
sense of external brightness depends upon
the brightness of this internal retinal image,
and not upon its size. As we retreat from a
light, its image upon the retina becomes
smaller, and it is easy to prove that the dimi-
nution follows the law of inverse squares ;
that at a double distance the area of the
retinal image is reduced to one-fourth, at a
treble distance to one-ninth, and so on. The
concentration of light accompanying this
decrease of magnitude exactly atones for the
diminution due to distance ; hence, if the
air be clear, the light, within wide variations
of distance, appears equally bright to the
observer.
If an eye could be placed behind the retina,
the augmentation or diminution of the im-
age, with the decrease or increase of distance,
might be actually ob erved. An exceedingly
simple apparatus enables us to illustrate this
point. Take a pasteboard or tin tube, three
or four inches wide and three or four inches
long, and cover one end of it with a sheet of
tinfoil, and the other end with tracing paper,
or ordinary letter paper wetted with oil or
turpentine. Prick the tinfoil with a needle,
and turn the aperture towards a candle-flame.
An inverted image of the flame will be seen
on the translucent paper screen by the eye
behind it. As you approach the flame the
image becomes larger, as you recede from the
flame the image becomes smaller ; but the
brightness remains throughout the same. It
is so with the image upon the retina.
If a sunbeam be permitted to enter a room
through a small aperture, the spot of light
formed on a distant screen will be round,
whatever be the shape of the aperture ; this
curious effect is due to the angular mag-
nitude of the sun. Were the sun a point, the
light spot wyould be accurately of the same
shape as the aperture. Supposing, then., the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
139
aperture to be square, every point of light
round the sun's periphery sends a small
square to the screen. These small squares
are ranged round a circle corresponding to
the periphery of the sun ; through their
blending and overlapping they produce a
rounded outline. The spots of light which
fall through the apertures of a tree's foliage
on the ground are rounded for the same rea-
son.
LIGHT REQUIRES TIME TO PASS THROUGH SPACE.
This was proved in 1675 and 1676 by an
eminent Dane, named Olaf Roenier, who was
then engaged with Cassini in Paris in observ-
ing the eclipses of Jupiter's moons. The
planet, whose distance from the sun is 475,
693.000 miles, has lour satellites. We are
now only concerned with the one nearest to
the planet. Rcemer watched this moon, saw
it move round in front of the planet, pass to
the other side of it, and then plunge into
Jupiter's shadow, behaving like a lamp sud-
denly extinguished ; at the other edge of the
shadow he saw it reappear like a lamp sud-
denly lighted. The moon thus acted the
part of a signal light to the astronomer,
which enabled him to tell exactly its time of
revolution. The period between two succes-
sive lightings up of the lunar lamp gave this
time. It was found to be 42 hours, 28 min-
utes, and 35 seconds.
This observation was so accurate, that hav-
ing determined the moment when the moon
emerged from the shadow, the moment of its
hundredth appearance could also be deter-
mined. In fact it would be 100 times 42
hours, 28 minutes, 35 seconds, from the first
observation.
Roomer's first observation was made when
the earth was in the part of its orbit nearest
Jupiter. About six months afterwards, when
the little moon ought to make its appearance
for the hundredth time, it was found
unpunctual, being fully 15 minutes behind its
calculated t'me. Its appearance, moreover,
bad been growing gradually later, as the
e irth retreated towards the part of its orbit
most distant from Jupiter.
R j±mer reasoned thus : — " Had I been able
to remain at the other side of the earth's
orbit, the moon might have appeared always
at the proper instant ; an observer placed
there would probably have seen the moon 15
minutes ago, the retardation in my case being
due to the fact that the light requires 15
minutes to travel from the place where my
first observation was made to my present
position."
This flash of genius was immediately suc-
ceeded by another. " If the surmise be cor-
rect," Rcemer reasoned, " then as I approach
Jupiter along the other side of the earth's
orbit, the retardation ought to become grad-
ually less, and when I reach the place of my
first observation there ought to be no retar-
dation at all." He found this to be the case,
and thus proved not only that light required
time to pass through space, but also deter-
mined its rate of pi*opagation.
The velocity of light as determined by
Roemer is 192,500 miles in a seco.id.
THE ABERRATION OE LIGHT.
The astounding velocity assigned to light
by the observations of Roemer received the
most striking confirmation from the English
astronomer Bradley, in the year 1723. In
Kew Gardens to the present hour there is a
sundial to mark the spot where Bradley dis-
covered the aberration of light.
If we move quickly through a rain-shower
which falls vertically downwards, the drops
will no longer seem to fall vertically, but
will appear to meet us. A similar deflection
of the stellar rays by the motion of the earth
in its orbit is called the aberration of light.
Knowing the speed at which we move
through a vertical rain-shower, and knowing
the angle at which the rain-drops appear to
descend, we can readily calculate the velocity
of the falling drops of rain. So likewise,
knowing the velocity of the earth in its orbit,
and the deflection of the rays of light pro-
duced by the earth's motion, we can imme-
diately calculate the velocity of light.
The velocity of light, as determined by
Bradley, is 191,515 miles per second — a most
striking agreement with the result of Roemer.
This velocity has also been determined by
experiments over terrestrial distances. M.
Fizeau found it thus to be 194,677 miles a
second, while the later experiments of M.
Foucault made it 185,177 miles a second.
"A cannon ball," says Sir John Herschel,
" would require seventeen years to reach the
140
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUBNAL.
sun, yet light travels over the same spr,ce in
eight minutes. The swiftest bird, at its
utmost speed, would require nearly three
weeks to meke the tour of the earth. Light
performs the same distance in much less time
than is necessary for a single stroke of its
wing ; yet its rapidity is but commensurate
with the distance it has to travel. It is
demonstrable that light cannot reach our
system from the nearest of the fixed stars in
less than five years, and telescopes disclose
to us objects probably many times more
remote."
We shall give from time to time further
extracts on this and kindred subjects, from
the same author, as every one dealing in
optical goods should become familiar with it.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
W. L. M., Mass. — Tradition points to Egypt
as the birthplace of Alchemy ; and the prob-
able etymology of the name is that which
connects it with the most ancient and native
name of Egypt — Ghemi. It is to the Arabs
(from whom Europe got the name and the
art) that we owe the prefix Al. Chemia was
a generic term, embracing all common ope-
rations, like the decocting ordinary drugs ;
but the grand operation of transmuting was
Al-chemia — the chemistry of chemistries.
Caligula instituted experiments for produ-
cing gold out of sulphuret of arsenic. Dio-
cletian ordered all works on Alchemy to be
burned ; for multitudes of worthless books
on this art were appearing, ascribed to fa-
mous names of antiquity, like Democritus, Py-
thagoras, and even to Hermes Trismegistus,
the father of the art. Later the Arabs took
up the art, and it flourished during the Cali-
phates of the Abbosides ; and the earliest
work of this school, written by Gebir — Summa
Perfectionis (Summit of Perfection) — is the
oldest known treatise on Chemistry in the
world. It is a text-book of all then known
and believed. They had long precipitated,
sublimed and coagulated chemical substances,
and worked with gold and mercury, salts and
acids, and were familiar with a long range of
what are now called chemicals. Gebir taught
that there are three elemental chemicals, viz. :
Mercury, Sulphur and Arsenic ; and these,
by their potent and penetrating qualities,
fascinated their minds. They saw mercury
dissolve gold, the most incorruptible of mat-
ters, as water dissolves sugar ; and a stick of
sulphur presented to hot iron penetrated it
like a spirit, and made it run down in a
shower of solid drops — a new and remarka-
ble substance, possessing qualities belonging
neither to sulphur nor iron. Thus they toiled,
making many mixtures. Their creed was
transmutation ; their method blind groping ;
yet they found many new bodies and invented
many a useful process.
Finding its way through Spain into Europe,
it speedily was entangled with the fantastic
subtleties of scholastic philosophers. In the
middle ages it. was the monks who chiefly oc-
cupied themselves with it, and Pope John
XXII. delighted in it, though his successor
forbade it. Eoger Bacon and Albertus Mag-
nus were the earliest writers on the subject ;
but the first was the greatest man in the
school. Strongly condemning magic and ne-
cromancy, he believed in the convertibility of
inferior metals into gold ; and he sought even
more than gold — the Elixir of Life. Like
Gebir, he believed that gold, dissolved in
nitro-hydrochloric acid (aqua-regia), was this
desired Elixir, and urged it on the attention
of Pope Nicholas IV., and doubtless took
much of it himself. Magnus was thoroughly
acquainted with the chemistry of his times;
he regarded water as nearer the soul of Na-
ture, the radical source of all things. Thomas
Aquinas also wrote on the subject, and was
the first to use the word Amalgam. Kaymond
Lully, another great name in the annals of
Alchemy, first introduced the use of symbols
into Chemistry. Valentine was also celebra-
ted among the craft, and first introduced An-
timony into medical use. He inferred the
Philosopher's stone must be a compound of
salt, sulphur and mercury, so pure that its
projection on the baser metals should work
them into a state of greater purity, till finally
they should be silver and gold. His practical
knowledge was so great he was ranked as the
founder of Analytical Chemistry. But in
Paracelsus Alchemy culminated. He held,
with Valentine, that the elements of compound
bodies were salts, sulphur, and mercury,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
141
representing respectively earth, air, and water
— fire being regarded as imponderable. But
these again were representative; all matter
was reducible under some one of these typi-
cal forms; every thing was either cne of these
forms, or was, like the metals, a compound.
There was one element common to the four —
a fifth essence — an unknown and only true
element, of which the four genuine princi-
ples were nothing but diminutive forms. In
short, he believed there was but one elemen-
tary matter; but what it was no one knew.
This prime element he considered the univer-
sal solvent which all sought; to express which
he introduced the word alcahest.
After Paracelsus' time the Alchemists were
divided into two classes. The fi> st was com-
posed of men of diligence and sense, who
devoted themselves to the discovery of new
compounds; practical and observant of facts,
the legitimate ancestors of the positive chem-
ists of the era of Lavoiser. The other class
took up the visionary, fantastical side of older
Alchemy, carrying it to an extent before un-
known. Their language is mystical meta-
phor. The seven metals correspond with the
seven planets, the seven cosmical angels, and
the seven openings of the head — the eyes,
ears, nostrils, and mouth. Silver was Diana;
Gold, Apollo ; Iron, Mars; Tin, Jupiter;
Lead, Saturn. They talked of the ascent of
black eagles, of lily brides; the escape of red
lions from the embraces of Diana ; their ob-
ject being merely to disguise a formula for a
chemical operation. It was long regarded
as a pure art, vouchsafed to man by the kind-
ness of Providence, and was the favorite
study of the clei'gy; hence many mediaeval
churches contain alchemical symbols. The
Blue Lion and the Green Lion, the Red Man
and the "White Woman, the Toad, the Crow,
the Dragon and the Panther, Crucibles and
Stars, were blended with the legends of
Saints and Martyrs. Westminster Abbey,
many of whose Abbots were notable Alchem-
ists, is still adorned with many of the em-
blems of occult science. The magical Pent-
alpha is still visible in the western windows
of the southern aisle, and the celestial orbs
and spheres are figured deep in the pavement
before the altar.
It is interesting to observe that the leading
tenets in the Alchemists' creed, viz., the
transmutation of other metals into gold and
silver — a doctrine which once it was thought
modern chemistry had utterly exploded — re-
ceives not a little countenance from facts
every day coming up. The multitude of phe-
nomena known to chemists under the name
of Allotropy, are leading prominent chemists
more and more to the opinion that many
substances hitherto considered chemically
distinct, are only the same substance under
some different condition of its component
molecules; and that the number of really
distinct elements may be very few indeed. A
series of experiments recently performed
seem to indicate that silver is capable of
transmutation into another metal, possessing
some of the properties and characteristics of
gold. The question of the age then is — as
of all past ages — what is the interior nature
of all these elements ? No analytical power
can move one of these elements from its pro-
priety. Let synthesis be tried, if analysis
has failed. It is in the highest degree prob-
able that all the metals are equidistant from
simplicity, and all equally compound, if there
be any truth in the unanimous testimony of
chemical analogy. Could we but discover
the secret of one of these tantalizing elements,
we should know it of all. Boundle s fields
would then await the explorer.
F. E. B., Gatlettsburg, Ky. — From India,
that land of gems, came the first diamond of
commerce. The most precious among the
many gems for which that fair tropical land
is famed. The territory of Nizam — or some-
times called Golconda, after its most power-
ful fortress — produced the finest stones. But
a few centuries exhausted mines in which, for
untold ages, the pure catbon had been crys-
tallizing into the limpid jewel. More eagerly
than the alchemist, bent over his crucible to
discover the magic stone, and as vainly, have
scientific men sought to wrest this secret from
the bosom of the earth. Only in four shapes
are diamonds cut: the brilliant, the rose, the
table, and the brilliolette. These last two
styles are not now used, and are only seen in
some of the girdle diamonds of " the beauti-
ful Austrian." The diamonds of the " Queen's
necklace" were mostly of the rose form, so
rarely seen in America; i. e., flat on the un-
142
AMEBICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
der surface, and cut into innumerable facets
on the top.
The "Koh-i-noor" (Mountain of Light)
was once part of the aigret of the god Kirs-
chun; but the poor, powerless god was un-
able to keep it, for a wild Delhi chieftain took
it, to grace his tiara of eagle's feathers.
From chief to chief it passed, till to Aurun-
zebe it occurred tlat it would be no worse
for cutting and polishing; but the unskilful
workman cut it down from 793 to 186 carats.
Aurunzebe wished to repay him in kind by
cutting him down also, commencing at his
head. From this " exceeding great reward "
he escaped only by instant flight. Soon after,
Nadir Shah stole it; and from his descend-
ants it was forced by Achmet, who, in his
turn, was obliged to resign it to Eunjeet
Singh; from whom it was taken by the Brit-
ish troops, and presented to her Most Gra-
cious Majesty, Victoria, of England. Dissat-
isfied with its form, which was irregular and
uncouth, she caused it to be re-cut; thus re-
ducing it to 106 carats.
The "Mattan Diamond," three times the
size of the Koh-i-noor, yet remains with the
Eajah of Mattan, and caused a bloody civil
war, of more than twenty years' duration, for
its possession. It is pear-shaped, and of un-
speakable brilliancy. Many nations have
wished to gain it; but, believing the fortunes
of his race depend on retaining it, he refuses
all negotiations for it. The " Orloff " is a
yellow diamond, and is universally conceded
to be the finest diamond in the civilized
world. Once the eye of the Indian Poly-
phemus, it was most zealously guarded by
the priests of the Temple. To obtain it a
wily Frenchman became a Pagan; and rising,
by slow degrees, to the dignity of the priest-
hood, became, finally, the most devoted wor-
shipper of the bright-eyed god. Unawed by
its supposed divinity, he achieved the purpose
of his life, and stole the stone; and thus, pre-
eminent among the jewels of the earth, it
adorned the crown of the Northern Semira-
inis, where it yet remains. There, too, we
find the red and the green diamond, of ex-
quisite lustre and colors. The "Polar Star"
vies with them in brightness, contrasting its
limpid purity with their r'eep hues.
The " Pitt Diamond " (an heir-loom of the
Orleans branch), is one of the crown jewels
of France, and was stolen during the Eevolu-
tion. The thief, not being a crowned head,
was unable " read his title clear to it," and
so returned it. The first Napoleon wore it
on the hilt of his sword. This stone, of 51
carats, presented to the (late) Empress, by
her husband, the third Napoleon, is rendered
even more precious by bearing on its spotless
surface the name of the most beautiful owner,
Eugenie.
The "Sancy Diamond," though only 53|
carats in weight, ranks high among these
stones, by reason of its exquisite and unusual
beauty. Every step of its history is written
in blood. Though pr< served for centuries in
the Burgundian family, in some of the fierce
mediaeval wars it was torn from the body of
the dying duke, and brought to the King of
Portugal ; thence the Baron Sancy bought it
to send, as became so loyal a courtier, to his
king. The messenger who bore this princely
treasure was slain by robbers, but not before
he swallowed the diamond. Eemoved, unin-
jured, from his dead body, it reached James
the Second; thence it remained among the
French crown jewels till the Eevolution. Mis-
fortune attends it; for Napoleon regained it,
only to sell it to Prince Demidoff ; from whose
hands it passed to the Earl of Westmeath,
and now awaits future transitions among the
possessions of the late Sir Jametsee Jejeibhoy.
The " Shah" is among the Eussian crown
jewels, and is a parallelogram, weighing 86
carats. It has inscribed on it the name of
the Persian fire god, in whose temple and to
whose shrine it was consecrated.
The "Florentine," like the "Sancy," be-
longed to the Duke of Burgundy. Taken
from him by a soldier, after his death on the
battle field, it reached Pope Julius Second.
From him the Emperor of Austria obtained
it, and it is among his crown jewels. Of 139|
carats, it is not quite flawless, which decreases
greatly its value. With it is the blue "Hope"
diamond. Of this rare color there were two;
but one was stolen from the crown of France,
and lost. Thus Austria claims the only true
blue.
One of the finest diamonds of modern times
is in the hands of the Castors, of Amsterdam,
the famous diamond cutters.
AMEEICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
143
"We know of no ring made from a diamond,
except the one worn by the favorite wife of
Abdallah, and which was once in the circlet
of the beautiful Empress Fastrada, beloved
of Charlemagne, and to which is ascribed
magic power.
By referring to No. 7, Vol. I. of the Jour-
nal, you will obtain the information you de-
sire, in regard to cutting the diamond.
In India, the hard rock crystal is called the
unripe, and the perfect gem the ripe diamond ;
thus classing it in the vegetable kingdom. In
the middle ages Europeans thought it an ani-
mal. Perhaps you have read the story of the
lady who kept in her casket two rare rose dia-
monds; and, on taking them from their seclu-
sion, found, snugly between them, a smaller
stone; and her delight increased on finding,
a few months later, another; the loving jewrels
thus replenishing her treasury as well as the
earth. This is as well authenticated as other
medieval legends, and bears equal inherent
evidence of truth !
M. P., Pine Bluff, Ark.— Ho charge the
needle of a surveyor's compass : Eemove the
brass centre cap, lay the needle on its side, and
place over it a strip of soft sheet-iron a little
longer and wider than the needle. Bringf the
ends of a horseshoe-magnet in contact with
the upper surface of the short iron strip, with
the north end of the magnet towards the
south end of the needle. Eub the magnet
back and forth while keeping it upright, at
the same time firmly holding down the ends
of the iron strip. The strokes should not be
much, if any, longer than the needle. End
th^ rabbing by bringing the magnet to the
centre, and suddenly remove it by drawing it
sideways, at right angles to the line of
the needle and strip. Turn the needle on
the other side and repeat the operation.
A dozen strokes of a one or two pound mag-
net, in good order, will saturate the needle
with all the magnetism that can be put into
it by any p ocess. The charging magnet to
be in good order should be able to sustain
not less than its own weight It will be
noticed that in the above operation the mag-
net does not touch the needle. After the
needle is charged avoid touching it to any
iron or steel. Sharpen and finely finish the
spindle on which the needle turns, and see
that there is not the least appearance of a pit
mark where the spindle comes in contact with
the cap.
Place the needle on the spindle and allow
it to settle, noting the exact point to which it
becomes pointed. Cause it to vibrate, and
see if it settles again at the same point.
If not, there is something wrong either in the
contact [of the spindle and cap, or in the
magnetism, which must be sought and cor-
rected.
For filling engraving, a good quality of
black sealing wax is best ; if for metal, heat
hot enough to melt the wax, which rub on
till entirely filled and covered ; if for wood,
ivory or pearl, rub it in with a hot iron,
taking care in either case not to burn the wax.
Grind off with pumice stone and water as-
sisted with finely pulverized pumice stone.
John Seller's gravers are considered as
good as any.
L. F., Flemington, N. J. — A pendulum,
suitable for the clock you mention, like that
described on page 112, Vol. II., of the Journal,
would cost you, all complete, about $5. The
compensation could only be adjusted after
the pendulum is applied .to the clock, and
only then by careful experiments. But why
not make one yourself ? Instead of 43 inches,
the length of your present pendulum, make
it 40 inches, which is better, and increase the
weight of the bob from 25 oz. until the clock
keeps time. Make your rod round, of soft
white pine about § inch diameter, and varnish
with shellac ; fit a ferule on each end to hold
the spring and screw ; also fit a ferule over
the rod for the crutch to work on, and alter
the crutch to the thickness of the rod. For
the pendulum spring, take a piece of music
box spring about 1\ inches long, cover the
ends that are to remain thick with shellac,
applied with a lamp, and immerse the spring
in a mixture of about equal parts of nitric
acid and water for a few minutes, or until the
part exposed'to the acid is nearly thin enough;
wash it clean, and grind out all the acid marks
with an oil-stone slip. Make the compensa-
tion as described heretofore and you will find
notrorblein adjusting it. It only requires time
and patience. If you do not wish to spend
the time to make it, address B. F. Hope, Sag
Harbor, N. Y.
144
AMERICAN HOROLOG-ICAL JOURNAL.
You can alter youx breguet spring to make
the watch go slower if there is any to let out ;
and of course you can take it up to increase
the rate ; but if the spring is in good shape it
should never be disturbed, but bring to time
by adding to or dimiriisihii g the weight of the
balance.
AMERICAN HOROLOGrlCAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
GI--
IB_ MILLER,
229 Broadivay, N. T.,
At $2.59 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
received.
B@°" Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
O. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
TO THE WATCH TRADE.
We are prepared to execute all kinds of difficult
Watch or Chronometer Repairin
including replacing any defective parts.
JOHN BLISS & CO.,
MANUFACTURERS^ CHROMOIETERS,
60 South Sti eet, N. T.
J. S. BIRCH'S
MAGIC WATCH EEY.
No article introduced to the Trade has given such universal satis-
faction as Birch's Magic Watch Key. Not only is that the testi-
mony of all engaged in the wuolesale trade in New York, but the
luventor is in receipt of tbjusands of letters from practical work-
men from all pans of the country testifying to the same fact.
It is with great pleasure that the manufacturer is able to an-
nounce to the trade that he has completed arrangements by which
he will in the future be able to supply all orders promptly. He
would especially invito the attention of watchmakers to the Bench
Key, which is now brought to a degree of perfection that leaves
no.hing to be desired.
The loading features of the Magic Watch Key are, its elf-adjust-
ing properties — p rfectly fitting itself to any arbor, thereby avoid-
ing any wear to the corners ; and its simplicity, which renders it
Impossible to get out of order.
These keys are well finished, durably made, the squares being of
the finest tempered steel, ana made perfect square.
The cut is the exact siz a of the pociet key — the bench key being
twice the length of the others.
Price each, 50 cents. Per doz., §4.50.
Address
J* $. 81RCH & 00.t
8 Maiden Lane, JV. Y.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH
MEAN TIME.
For December, 1870.
Sidereal
Time
Equation
of
Equation
of
Sidereal
Time
fcf
Day
of
Mon.
of
Time to be
Diff.
a
the Semi-
Subtracted
Added to
for
Right
o
diameter
Passing
from
Ascension
Added to
Hour.
of
R
the
Meridian.
Apparent
Time.
Mean Time.
Mean Sun.
S.
M. S.
M. S.
s.
H. M. S.
Th
1
70.31
10 46 18
10 46.01 ! 0.942
16 40 33.69
Fri
?
70.39
10 23 25
10 23 08 j 0.967
16 44 30.25
Sit
3
70.47
9 59 72
9 59.55 0.991
16 48 26.81
Sn
4
70 55
9 35.60
9 35.44 i 1.015
16 52 23.36
TNT
5
70.63
9 10.95
9 10.79 | 1.038
16 56 19.92
Tn
6
70.70
8 45.76
8 45.60 1.060
17 0 16.48
W.
7
70.77
8 20.03
8 19.88 i 1.081
17 4 13.04
Th. 8
70 84
7 53.81
7 53.67 i 1 101
17 8 9.59
Fri
9
70.90
7 27.15
7 27.01 1.120
17 12 6.15
Rat
10
70.96
7 0.05
6 59.91 1.138
17 16 2.71
Sn
11
71.01
6 32.52
6 32.39
1.155
17 19 59.27
M
19
71.06
6 4.57
6 4.46
1.171
17 23 55.82
Tn
13
71.10
5 36.28
5 36 17
1.186
17 27 52.38
W
14
71.14
5 7.64
5 7.54
1.199
17 3148.94
Th
15
71 18
4 38 70
4 38.61 ! 1.211
17 35 45.50
Fri
16
71.21
4 9.50
4 9.41
1.221
17 39 42.05
Sat
17
71.24
3 40.07
3 39 99
1.230
17 43 38.61
Sn
18
71 26
3 10.43
3 10.36
1.238
17 47 35.17
M
19
71.28
2 40.63
2 40.57
1.244
17 51 31.73
Tn
20
71 29
2 10 69
2 10.64
1.249
17 55 28.29
W
21
71.30
1 40.65
1 40 61
1.252
17 59 24.85
Th
9,9,
71.30
1 10.56
1 10 53
1.253
18 3 21.40
Fri
23
71.30
0 40.46
0 40 45
1.252
18 7 17.96
Sat
Sn
24
25
71 29
71.28
0 10.39
0 10.40
1.250
1.246
18 11 14.52
0 19.61
0 19.59
18 15 11.08
,r
26
71.27
0 49.51
0 49.49
1.241
18 19 7.63
Tn
9,7
71.25
1 19.27
1 19.24
1.235
18 23 4.19
w
28
71.22
1 48 85
1 48 81
1.227
18 27 0.7*
Th
99
71 20
2 18.22
2 18.17
1.218
18 30 57.31
Fri
30
71.17
2 47.34
2 47.28
1.207
18 34 53.87
Sat
31
71.13
3 16.19
3 16.12
1.195
18 38 50.42
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.19 s. from the sidereal
time.
The Semidiameter for mean n
.on may bo assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF
THE MOON
r>.
H. M.
© Full Moo
( Last Qua
@ New Moc
7
. 15
14 39.1
9 10.9
22
.. 29
0 18.8
4 38.1
D. H.
5 3.3
20 15 9
Latitude of Harvard Observatt
0 / ll
>ry 42 22 48.1
H.
a. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory . .
4 44 29.05
New York City Hall .
.... 4 5
3 0.15
. 5 24 20.572
5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatorj
... . 5 37 58.062
8
1 42.64
APPARENT
APPARENT
MERII).
R. ASCENSION.
DECLINATION.
PASSAGE-
D. H. M. S.
o ' *
H. M.
Venus 1 16 22 55.32
.... 2119 11.1.
....23 43.7
Jupiter.... 1 5 29 36.68
.... + 22 45 6.1.
....12 46.6
Satu
ID.
.. 1 1
7 53 12.50
.... -22 3'
t 57.6,
1 12.4
AMERICAN
Vol. H.
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1871.
No. 7.
CONTENTS.
EsSAT OK THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SlMPLE AND
Mechanically Perfect Watch— Chap. I. . 145
Adjustments to Positions, Etc., . *. . . . 152
Engraving on Jewelry and Plate, 15h
Metals, 16C
Travelling Opticians, 163
Light, ■ ^ . 165
Answers to Correspondents, 168
Equation of Tlme Table, 168
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broaslicay, Boom 19.
[Entered according to Act of CnngreBS, by G. P. Miller, in the
oflice of the Librarian of Congress ai Wasnlngtun.J
E! S S .A. "5T
ON THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANI-
CAL-LI' PERFECT WATCH.
EY MORRITZ GROSSMANN.
INTRODUCTION.
The construction of a good watch is un-
doubtedly one of the most complicated
problems in the whole range of practical
mechanics. The small dimensions not only,
but also the absolute necessity of confining
the whole mechanism to a space of a certain
shape, which must not be transgressed
nor altered, together with the claims to
mechanical perfection and exterior elegance,
are difficulties which may not be encountered
in the same degree by any other branch of
engineering.
The ingenuity and skill of the practical
horologists have nevertheless contrived many
different constructions of watch movements,
and especially in Switzerland, that old centre
of watch manufacturing, there exists an
incredible variety of designs, more or less
happily adapted to their purpose. In review-
ing so many different expressions of the same
fundamental idea, the attentive observer will
not fail to arrive at the conclusion that a
great part of these different patterns have been
invented in order to produce something
novel and original, or to suit some taste or'
fashion. Some of them, indeed, make ' an
impression as though a watch were a fancy
article, and not a scientific instrument.
This was certainly one of the chief motive3
which caused the Board of Trade of Geneva
to open a competition for the study of a sim-
ple and normal movement. Being impressed
with the usefulness of a clear treatment of this
matter, and having become practically
acquainted with the manufacturing systems
of Switzerland, England, France, and Ger-
many, I resolved to enter into this compe-
tition ; and I had the satisfaction to see that
my reflections on the subject were favor-
ably judged and approved by the jurors.
At the request of the editor of the Ameri-
can Horological Journal, I have translated
this Essay, originally written in French, into
English, at the same time revising and cor-
recting it carefully, and adding some addi-
tional remarks especially referring to English
watches. I am well aware that watch manu-
facturing in the United States is carried on in
an altogether different way from what it is any-
where else. The excessive cost of skilled hand
labor has led to an extended employment of
mechanical appliances, and it is really grati-
fying to learn what amount of skill and saga-
city has been developed in the construction of
automatic and self -measuring little machines.
The system of perfect identity of the parts
of the movement is certainly very commenda-
ble, and affords great facilities in manufac-
turing large quantities. It has already been
adopted in Paris and Geneva, and the possi-
bility of maintaining this identity within
certain limits is no longer doubtful. Still it
seems to me that this system ought not to be
extended to the manufacturing of the
escapement, which, in carefully made watches,
ought always to be treated as an individual — ■
especially the lever escapement. The hori-
146
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
zontal escapement, on the contrary, would
admit much better an identic treatment.
Watch manufacturing in Switzerland is
organized in a very different way from what
it is in the United States. In Switzerland a
number of comparatively small establish-
ments get up the movements — that is, the
frames, wheels and pinions, barrels and click-
work. The watch manufacturer orders or
fcuys them, and gets the casing, motion work,
escapement and finishing done. The leading
principles in the construction of the move-
ments are better not inquired into, as they
seem to be governed by the taste of the cus-
tomers rather than by mechanical science.
This organization gives rise to great irregu-
larities and inconveniences in manufacturing,
which has caused several houses of impor-
tance, especially in Geneva, to create a com-
plete manufacture of movements for their own
wants in inclosed localities, much in the same
way as it is now done in the watch factories
of the United States.
The English way of manufacturing presents
nearly the same general feature, so far as the
movements are concerned ; but the comple-
tion of these latter is much more dispersed
over all the country, and at almost every place
there are watchmakers who, besides attend-
ing to their repairing business, do more or less
in the manufacturing line ; so that compara-
tively few pure manufacturers, in the Swiss
style, will be found in that country. This sys-
tem has the decided advantage of fostering the
taste for new work, and of affording facilities
to those desiring to carry out any scheme of
a new escapement, etc. On the other hand it
puts the manufacturer of movements rather
out of the reach of his customers' influence
and wishes, and this, together with other cir-
cumstances, must account for many astonish-
ing imperfections in the getting up of move-
ments. Many English manufacturers are
aware of them, but not able to enforce their
views to the movement makers. In the last
decade one or two of these latter have begun
to work on the system of identity, but I have
not heard anything as to their success.
The English, Swiss and French manufac-
turers of movements are exhibiting one com-
mon inconvenience, viz. : the want of a gene-
rally acknowledged working standard, and of
adequate measuring instruments. In France
and Switzerland the horological population
hold with uncommon tenacity to the anti-
quated measuring system based upon the
"Pied de roi" (the King's foot), though
neither of these countries has a king. This
system, in total inharmony with the political
institutions, with the monetary and measuring
systems of those countries, and with the
daily social practice, is entirely impracticable
for calculation and intercompanson, and not
very appropriate to the dimensions of watch-
work, and ought to be abolished and replaced
by the metric system. If I am correctly
informed, this latter has been introduced in
the factories of the Geneva establishments
above mentioned.
The English manufacturers are working
upon the unit of the English inch — still more
unfit for watch work than the Paris ligne ;
but the majority of special parts are classified
by then- makers in arbitrary sizes without any
reliable standard, and without any guarantee
that a certain size of one maker is uniform
with the equally numbered size of another
maker. The disadvantage of such a state of
things could not fai] to strike the observation
of the thinking horologists there; and in fact
the inconveniences arising from it are ren-
dered much more perceptible from the fact
that watch manufacturing is spread all over
the United Kingdom, while the movements
and materials are only made in the Lanca-
shire district. Thus, the London manufac-
turer has to get his movements — wheels,
pinions, hands, etc., etc. — from a distance of
at least one hundred and fifty miles, and it
is easy to understand that it requires a good
deal of practice to do this without frequent
mistakes, owing to the want of a generally
acknowledged standard of measuring.
This caused the British Horological Insti-
tute to issue a circular in 1861, by which
information was asked about a good and
practical universal measuring system; and it
was expressly stated that the suggestions to
be made should in no way be bound to the ac-
tual English standard of measuring. I for-
warded a detailed description of the method
and instruments in use here in Glashiitte for
employing the metric system. This was pub-
lished two years afterwards, and warmly
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
147
recommended by the special committee ap-
pointed for the gauge and measuring ques-
tion. No other communication was pub-
lished afterwards, except an eccentric gauge,
which, by its nature, admitted no connection
with any standard, and so concluded that no
one had sent another suggestion. Never-
theless, the opinion of the committee has
found no followers, and English watch-work
is, up to the present day, measured by inches
and their fractions.
In my Treatise on the Detached Lever
Escapement,* I expressed my opinions on the
matter in detail, and tried to prove the per-
fect applicability of the metric system to
watch- work, and the calculation of its
cimensions and proportions.
It is very much to be regretted that the
watch factories of the United States had not
at once introduced the metric measurement,
which affords so great facilities ; and it
might have been very easily done, because
everything had to be created anew, and be-
cause these factories form, as it were, each a
world for itself.
The Swiss watch manufacturers have com-
plicated their task in a very unnecessary
way by creating a great variety of sizes of
movements. Their regular sizes begin at
10 lignes and go up to 21 lignes, thus giving
twelve sizes. But a too great readiness to
meet the most minute exactions of their
customers, has led them so far as to have
even sizes by half lignes. The English
watches have also about seven regular sizes.
This I think too many, and a gradation by
1 ligne (about 2.5 mill.) is finer than required
to meet even the most pronounced taste. If
five sizes were adopted, differing by 3 mill,
from each other, the manufacturing would
be very much simplified. The sizes then
would be 34, 37, 40, 43 and 46 mill., and
would embrace the whole range from 15
to 21 lignes. Watches smaller than 15 lignes,
or 34 mill., ought not to be made.
The factories of the United States have
not made so much concession to the differ-
ence of taste of the public. So far as I know
of, they make chiefly two sizes of watches,
one lor gentlemen and one for ladies. Most
*T> i/i) bad of Mr. Cbaa. ffm, Schumann, 44 Nassau st.eet, Now
Yoik.
likely the equalizing and levelling character
of the republican institutions of that country
has assisted them in doing so, and much to
the advantage and convenience of the trade,
I am sure.
To these introductory remarks I will
merely add that, for establishing the propor-
tions of the parts of movements, I think it
the best way to find their relation to the
diameter of the pillar-plate in as simple frac-
tions as it can be done.
According to my opinion, the question :
What caliper is the best for the cheap produc-
tion of a simple but mechanically perfect and
sound watch movement f can best be answered
by studying the designs already employed,
as to their relative merits, and by choosing
the most commendable of them ; or, if the
actual methods do not seem convenient, by
creating a new one.
CHAPTER I.
THE FBAME.
1. This part must be the beginning, because
the way in which it is made influences most
essentially the physiognomy of the move-
ment, the arrangement of its organs, and
even the shape of the case. A watch, as
well as any other machine constituted mainly
by rotating parts, requires a frame for sustain-
ing both ends of each moving axis ; and thia
frame has to fulfil the same general me-
chanical requirements as in any other ma-
chine.
2. On looking over the frames, as they are
made in the different manufactories, we may
distinguish three different modes of construc-
tion:
The full plate movement.
The three-quarter plate movement.
The movement with cocks — or skeleton move-
ment.
AVe will, in the first place, have to compare
these three systems for the purpose of choos-
ing the one offering the greatest advantages
for the fabrication, and the best conditions for
the solidity and good service of the watch.
3. The movement with cocks is almost ex-
clusively adopted in the Swiss manufacturing,
and it must be acknowledged that it is, more
than any other one, calculated to exhibit the
mechanism of the watch favorably to the eye.
148
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
and give a rich look to the movement. At
the same time it is of a more complicated
nature, and it can not be manufactured or
finished for the same price and in the same
time of a full or three-quarter plate movement.
The same observation applies to the taking
to pieces and putting together ; and it is not
unlikely that the workmen employed in the
manufacturing, as well as the repairers,
would protest against this system if, instead
of being sanctified by the practice of a rather
long period, it were to be introduced now.
4. The frame, with cocks, of a horizontal
watch requires ten to eleven screws for the
cocks only, and sixteen steady pins ; the
frame of a three-quarter plate movement only
seven screws and six steady pins. Thus, the
'adjustment of the three pillars balances itself
by the adjustment of three to four screws and
nine to ten steady pins; an undeniable advan-
tage in favor of the three-quarter plate move-
ment, when cheap and quick manufacturing
is kept in view. Besides, there are four
cocks to be made instead of the upper plate,
and especially the consideration of the shaping
and finishing of these numerous parts, which
shows an essential economy in favor of the
three-quarter plate.
In repairing, the same inconveniences pre-
vail; the number of the separate parts is too
great in the movement with cocks, which
occasions necessarily a loss of time in the
operations of taking to pieces and putting
together.
5. The stability of the depths, together
with the vertical position of the pinions, is
endangered by each bending of a steady pin
in the frame with cocks. It is for all these
reasons, that some of the best Swiss manu-
facturers have dispensed with the cock of
the third wheel by annexing the hole for
this wheel to the centre wheel cock, be-
cause this depth, being the highest above the
level of the pillar plate, might suffer most
from the last-mentioned danger. With this
course of ideas, it is only surprising that the
same reasons have not at once led to a more
radical change of system.
6. It may be asserted as a merit of the
;movement with cocks, that it affords more
facility in taking out certain parts ; i. e., the
barrel, in case of a broken spring, or a piece
of the click-work, or stop-work in disorder.
But even this little advantage does no really
exist, because, for taking out the barrel, if the
hole in the plate for this latter is not too
wide, or if the steady pins of the barrel cock
are rather long, the centre wheel must be
taken off first, and for doing this ; if the spaces
are limited, it is often required to lift also the
cock of the third wheel. Then there are four
screws to be unscrewed, instead of the three
of the three-quarter plate. Thus there re-
mains the more sightly exposition of the
train as the only advantage of the movement
with cocks.
7. The three-quarter plate movement is
very rarely made in Switzerland ; but so
much the more in England, where, for about
twenty years, it has obtained a pronounced
preference in place of the old full-plate design.
It secures the relative position and vertical
standing of the moving axes better than the
Swiss system, and requires a less number
of pieces, and less time and trouble in re-
pairing, still leaving sufficient facility in
taking out the parts of the escapement.
8. The arrangement of the train in these
two kinds of frames is, however, exactly the
same ; so that any three-quarter plate move-
ment might be transformed into one with
cocks by merely taking off the pillars and
upper plate, and substituting them by cocks
for each moving axis.
9. The full-plate movement, on the con-
trary, admits and even requires a quite dif-
ferent arrangement of the train. It is the
most ancient of all frames in watch-work, and
has been always in great favor in England.
This kind of frame has also been generally
adopted by the watch factories of the United
States.
10. It affords the possibility of making the
balance of greater diameter than in any of
the other frames ; but this is an argument of
no great importance, because it has long since
been ascertained that an excessively large bal-
ance, approaching more to the effect of a fly,
is not commendable for a good time-keeper.
Most likely it was the reduction of the size
of balances which caused the English makers
to adopt the three-quarter plate movement.
11. The full-plate frame allows of a much
easier and more spacious arrangement of the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
149
train, and especially in fusee movements the
■wheels and pinions can be made larger than
in a hree-quarter plate frame, which is cer-
tainly an advantage. But on the other side,
for having a main-spring of the same breadth,
the full-plate movement requires a considera-
bly greater height of frame and case. This
•was tolerable at the period when the taste
required a case with strongly convex backs,
but the fashion of our days insists upon
having the backs flat, or nearly so, and this
caused the necessity of abandoning the full-
plate system, lest the cases should have too
disproportionate a height.
12. The full-plate movement is undeniably
the most simple ; it can be executed with two
cocks only (those of the balance), and with
an economy which no other system affords
to the same degree.
13. The taking to pieces and putting to-
gether of a full-plate watch has inconveni-
ences which can only be found supportable
by a long practice with this kind of move-
ment. The pottance which carries the lower
balance pivot must necesarily overlap the
extremity of the fork, or the rim of the es-
cape wheel in case of a horizontal watch,
and the workman who takes down the upper
plate without the necessary precaution, will
invariably break the lower pivot of the pallet-
staff, or of the escape pinion in the horizontal
watch. This happens very often to repair-
ers who take English watches to pieces with-
out attentively considering their arrange-
ment. In fact, to avoid an accident of that
kind, the movement must be put together
and taken to pieces on the upper plate, which
is a very inconvenient method, especially in
fusee movements, where the tension of the
main-spring must be adjusted anew after each
taking down.
It is true that all these objections might be
easily eliminated by dispensing with the pot-
tance, and setting the lower balance hole in
the pillar plate. But an arrangement of this
kind wuuld not offer the same certitude of
position and end shake of the balance staff.
14 The examining of the escapement, also,
in a full-plate movement cannot be made
with the same ease as in a movement other-
wise arranged. Likewise it is impossible to
make alterations on the escapement, or to
j clean it, or give it fresh oil, without taking
• the whole movement to pieces.
15. Having thus balanced the merits and
inconveniences of these three systems of
movements, it will not be difficult to draw the
conclusion, that for the watches of our period
the full-plate movement is not admissible ; and
that from the two other arrangements remaining,
the three-quarter movement is preferable for its
greater solidity and economy in the execution.
1G. A little saving in the practical execu-
tion might be attained by omitting the two
lower bridges. The plate then would only be
turned out a trifle on the dial side, just to
make up for any unevenness of the dial.
The place for the barrel and motion work,
and even for the lever escapement, can easily
be provided by circular sinks made on the
lathe.
In the same way a little advantage in the
execution of a three-quarter plate frame wTould
result from omitting the pillar, and making
the upper plate of sufficient thickness to screw
it directly to the lower plate, securing it in
position by three good steady pins. For flat
watches this method is to be recommended,
as it gives additional solidity. The room for
the moving parts must be hollowed out on
the lathe. Watches in thin gold cases, thus
made with two solid plates, would appear
more weighty than they would with plates
of common thickness. The setting of the
jewels is not so convenient as when it is
done in the bridges, but with properly ar-
ranged tools there is no difficulty in setting
them directly into the plate.
17. The pillars ought not to be placed close
to the periphery of the upper plate. On the
contrary, they will better meet their purpose
if put a little more inside, because the plates
cannot be so easily deflected in screwing
down when the shoulder of the pillar is not
quite correct and square. The two pillars
near the barrel ought to be so placed that a
straight line from the one to the other comes
as near as possible to the barrel centre. The
barrel is the reservoir of the moving force,
and, therefore, the frame must be so arranged
that it possesses the greatest strength at this
part.
18. There is no absolute mechanical neces-
sity for giving a certain thickness to the plates
150
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
of the frame, but the pillar plate ought to be
sufficiently thick to afford a safe hold for good
strong screws, and to contain the pallet and
escape wheel so as to be a trifle below the
surface of the plate. The upper plate ought
contain the centre wheel in its counter-
sink flush with the inner surface of the plate;
and, besides, a solid bearing for the upper
pivot of the centre pinion should be left.
According to these necessities, it will be a
good proportion to make the pillar plate of
a three-quarter plate or skeleton movement
0.06 of its diameter. The upper plate ought
to be about 0.035 of the same diameter.
These proportions, of course, apply only to
watches of a mean height (say 0.16, or about
one-sixth of their diameter); a flat watch,
having a weaker main-spring, and conse-
quently less strain on the frame, and less
pressure on the centre pinion, can bear a
reduction of these thicknesses.
19. The material of which the frame is to be
made is also worthy of consideration. A certain
degree of elasticity and hardness are required
for the purpose; besides it ought to offer the
least frictional resistance to the movement of
the pivots, and oppose the greatest durability
to the wear resulting from this motion.
20. For this last reason steel is out of ques-
tion here. Besides, it could not possibly be
protected against rusting, and magnetism
might endanger the rate of such a watch in a
most serious way. Still, I will remark here,
that I had an opportunity of observing for
many years a good watch, constructed by a
German maker before jewel holes were at
convenient reach. He had, for obtaining
greater durability, screwed steel bushings in-
to the plates for all the pivots, the escape-
ment included, and these steel holes, well
hardened and polished, showed almost no
wear at all after more than fifty years per-
formance, and kept the oil remarkably well.
21. Brass answers fully all the require-
ments of a good watch frame, if by sufficient
rolling or hammering it is brought to its
greatest hardness and density. Hammering
is preferable to rolling, if possible, because
this latter process stretches the metal — an
effect which is not sought for, and which, at
the same time, does anything but improve
he quality of the material. Small rollers
stretch the material more than large ones.
I have made a rather tedious series of experi-
ments in order to find out the best way of
obtaining the greatest possible density of
brass. For this purpose I constructed a
small tilt hammer of about 3 lbs. weight, strik-
ing five to six blows in a second, and adjustable
to perfect parallelism with its anvil. I found
that a strip of brass worked with it did not
show the slightest increase in breadth and
length — a proof that the considerable amount
of mechanical work bestowed upon it had
gone exclusively in the useful direction. By
comparing I found a strip of 1 millim. thick-
ness, reduced to 0.9 millim. by this vertical
hammering, to equal in elasticity a strip of
3.0 milhm. reduced by rolling to the same
thickness. This latter was stretched out to
2| times its former length.
Thus it is clearly to be seen that the work
done by the rollers is mostly expended
in stretching the metal — and that only a
small fraction of it serves the real purpose.
This stretching is a source of great injury to
the solidity of the metal, not only because it
produces fissures at the edges of the strips,
but also because it multiplies the size of the
smallest defects (flaws or holes) in the met il
to double and triple their size, while vertical
compression will rather mend them. I could
not continue my experiments on a larger
scale, because this little tilt hammer was the
maximum of what a man can drive with a
foot-wheel, and I had no machine power at
my disposal. But the result obtained led
me to the conclusion that the method general-
ly used for attaining the necessary density
and elasticity of brass, is altogether wrong.
I should prefer to stamp out the rough plates
and other parts with punch and die from the
common hard rolled sheet brass to be bought
in any shop, allowing about 10 per cent, ex-
tra thickness for the reduction by the vertical
blow. Then each part ought to be put on a
flat anvil and submitted to the powerful blow
of a falling block, adjusted exactly parallel
to the face of the anvil. Such a method
would offer another advantage, of making the
two faces of the blank piece quite smooth and
level, so that it would not require so much to
be taken away as when prepared in the usual
way.
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
151
22. The plates of English -watches are, as
a rule, very soft, owing o a bad practice of
the gilders in exposing them to a high degree
of heat ; I do not know for what reason, for
it requires no proof that a very good gilding
can be effected without heating at all. Their
upper plates, too, are generally too thin, and
especially with the screwed jewels, the screw
heads of which are sunk into the plate ; they
give very much trouble to the repairer, owing
to the very small amount of stock left for the
screw threads in that soft metal.
23. For some years there has been an in-
creasing demand for the so-called nickel move-
meats. These are made of German silver, and
that incorrect denomination is derived from
nickel, one of the chief constituents of this
alloy. There can be no doubt that German
silver is a first rate material for watch-work,
from its elasticity and hardness, and I refer
the reader for farther particulars about this
matter to the comparative experiments pub-
lished in my "Essay on the Detached Lever
Escapement," Chapter XIV. A nicely pol-
ished and grained German silver movement is
certainly a handsome looking article, and its
surface resists remarkably well all atmosphe-
ric influences, while brass needs to be pro-
tected by gilding. Still, when touched in a
careless way with perspiring hands, it gets
very ugly black stains, and in this particular
it is inferior to gilt brass.
In all other points, German silver offers no
advantage over brass ; and it must be said that
it is very injurious to the eyes of those who
have constantly to work at finishing those
bright polished movements. Brass, at any
rate, if well prepared, is so nearly equal in
physical qualities to German silver, that the
demand for this latter as a material for watch
movements may be considered a mere matter
of taste.
[In wishing our patrons a Happy New Year
we take pleasure in presenting them with the
first chapter of Mr. Grossmann's Essay, read
before the Board of Trade of Geneva, and
now for the first time published. It is un-
necessary to say that it will be a work of
great interest and benefit to the trade, as
every intelligent horologist is already aware
that no man now living is considered better
authority in both practical and scientific
horology then Mr. Grossmann. It is to be
presumed that the majority of our readers are
already familiar with his Treatise on the
Lever Escapement, but such as are not we
would advise that they at once procure a
copy.
For the benefit of our foreign readers, we
would state that in the American Watch
Factories the parts are not interchangeable to
that degree that might be inferred from Mr.
Grossmann's remark, but that every escape-
ment " is treated as an individual," to a cer-
tain extent, as are also the other parts requir-
ing a fine adjustment. In the manufacture of
arms it is possible to have the gauges so per-
fect that the parts are so nearly perfectly
identical that a thousand muskets may be
taken to pieces, and then the parts be taken
promiscuously and put together again. The
same results are obtained in the manufacture
of sewing machines, and many other articles;
but that will probably never be the case in
the manufacture of fine watches.
We are under obligations for very many
flattering and encouraging letters approving
our course during the past (which modesty,
as well as want of space, forbids publishing),
and shall use our best endeavors to merit the
good opinion of our friends in the future. In
a private letter Mr. Grossmann remarks that
he finds many valuable suggestions in the
articles from the correspondents of the
Journal, and we hope to be the recipient
of still more favors from that source, aa
there are but few workmen that are not
capable of giving information on some parti-
cular point.
If there are any of our patrons who have
forgotten to forward their subscriptions for
the current volume, we would suggest that it
would be acceptable as soon as the state of
their finances will admit of it.]
152
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
ADJUSTMENTS TO POSITIONS, ISOCHKONISM
AND COMPENSATION.
NUMBER THEEE.
We will now examine under what circum-
stances and conditions we can look upon the
difference as constant for the entire
p Po
extent of the hair-spring.
Suppose, first, that the coils be equal and
concentric circles, as is the case in the cylin-
drical hair-spring. Let ABC (Fig. 2) be the
the law
P Po
curve which commences the hair-spring ; A
being the end fastened, C the point of con-
junction of the curve and the circle of the
first coil, meeting it at a tangent. At the
other extremity the hair-spring terminates
by an equal and symmetrical curve, the
end of which, A', corresponds to A, and is
fastened in the collet of the balance. Now
the problem is this : see whether we can, for
all the values, between which the angle a
varies, deform the hair-spring according to
£ in such a way that the
conditions relative to its extremities be
fulfilled — that is, that the point A and its
tangent be invariable, and that its opposite
A' shall always be on the circle of the collet,
meeting it at a given and constant angle.
From this moment we may safely conclude that
whatever may be the form of the terminal
curves, the condition is very nearly fulfilled —
since during the general deformation of the
hair-spring, the point C is very little dis-
placed, as also the normal C O, on which the
centre of the first conference is placed; and
since all the coils assume equal and concen-
tric circles during the deformation, the point
C, where the curve C B' A' leaves the coil,
will be very little off the primitive circum-
ference of the coils; and the form of C'B' A',
having itself varied very little during the
deformation, the extremity A' will meet the
circumference of the collet at very nearly the
angle given. We are, then, safe to conclude
that, in general practice, the pressure, the
components of which are X and Y, is rela-
tively very small, and as the coordinates of
the centre of gravity are also generally infin-
itely small, the result is, that the quantity
Yx1 -Xyj of the equation (3) is negligible in
the presence of the power G-; that conse-
quently the isochronism is, if not perfect, at
least very closely approximated, and that the
duration of the oscillations of the balance are
expressed in formula (8).
Up to this time, we have given pretty much
a literal translation of the theory of Professor
Phillips' work, because the preceding embra-
ces all the fundamental principles upon which
his subsequent reasoning is based, so that
the student may be able to verify for himself
the accuracy of the results; but we shall now
deviate from this course, and endeavor to give
the leading features of the work, in plainer
language, at least where such a proceeding is
possible. We have said, in the preceding
article, that the theory of the isochronism is
here based upon the principle that, during
arcs of vibrations of the balance, of whatever
extent, the centre of the coils of the hair-
spring, as well as the centre of gravity of the
same, shall always coincide with the centre of
the axis of the balance. To accomplish this
result, the hair-spring must be adjusted so
that during its movements it will be deformed
according to the law — — — = jj to establish
which was the leading object of the pre-
ceding arguments. Now, if the reader has
attentively followed the reasoning, he will
understand that this expresses a propor-
tionality between the angle of motion and
the length of the hair-spring, which shall
remain the same though the radii of the
coils of the hair-spring vary during its
deformation. The principle of this deforma-
tion (Fig. 3) will illustrate where the white
circle represents the coils of the spring in
their state of equilibrium, and the dotted
ones the position of the same after the
deformation has taken place — all concentring
at the centre 0, which is the centre also.
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
153
of the axis of the balance, and consequently
also the centi e of gravity of the spring. By
a very difiR^'ilt fhain of reasoning, the author
of the tvoi^ xido uii>co\erea mo j_uo^us of caus-
ing the hair-spring to vibrate according to
this law, and these means consist in certain
fixed terminal curves, according to which the
ends of the hair-spring must be shaped. We
will not occupy ourselves with the translation
of all the mathematical formulas and demon-
strations evolved, but simply give the re-
sults of the reasoning, in plain English. As
before stated, it is the object of the author to
find the means of keeping the centre of grav-
ity of the entire hair-spring on the centre of
the axis of the balance, and that, during all
angular motions of the balance; to effect this,
the curves themselves must have their centre
of gravity on the axis of the balance. The
conditions of these curves are as follows:
1st. The ends A A' of the hair-spring (Fig.
4) must be fastened at half the radius of the
primitive circles of the coils of the spring,
and the carves must describe arcs of from
180° to 270° around the point O.
2d. The centre of gravity of each of the
curves must be on the perpendicular D O, let
fall through the centre 0 to the line C O (Fig.
5), (which will presently be explained).
3d. The distance of this centre of gravity
of the curve to the centre of the coils must be
equal to -j ; g% being the square of the radius
of the primitive circle of the coils and I the
length of the curve; that is, it must be equal
to a third proportional to the radius of the
coils and the length of the curve.
These properties, the author goes on to
Bay, not only fulfil the conditions of the centre
of gravity above expressed, but it also hap-
pens that by reason of these same curves, the
term neglected in the second member of
equation (3) becomes, if it may be so. ex-
pressed, a quantity infinitely small of the
second order, on the one side because the
components X and Y are infinitely small, and
further because the same is true with respect
to the coordinates of the centre of gravity of
the hair-spring.
To show that the centre of gravity of these
curves coincides with the centre of the coils,
let ABC (Fief. 4) represpnt one of the curves,
of which A is the end fastened, and let A'B'C
represent the other curve, of which the end
A' is fastened in the collet. The figure sup-
poses the state of the hair-spring as it is
before any deformation takes place. Let
COC'=,3, (3 being any angle whatever. We
can look upon the hair-spring as forming two
distinct parts: the first composed of any whole
number of coils commencing and ending at
the point C, the centre of gravity of which is
in O ; the second, comprising the two curves
and the arc CDC, the centre of gravity of
which we wish to seek. Now, if G and G;
are respectively the centres of gravity of the
two terminal curves, which are, as we know,
equal and symetrical, the centre of gravity of
the two is at the point H, in the middle of
the line GG'. Moreover, if the angles COG
and COG' are right angles, the line OH,
bisecting GOG', prolongated to D, also bisects
COC, and passes consequently through the
centre of gravity K, of the arc CDC, from
which it follows that the angle OGH is equal
to the angle COK, or to \$. If now, we call
M the weight of the two terminal curves with
respect to the point O, and M' that of the
arc CDC, with respect to the same point we
have :
154
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
M = 21 X O H = 21 X O G sin \ 0
or, M = 2 pg sin I 0 .
On the other side, by virtue of the law wtich
gives the centre of gravity of an arc of a
circle, we have :
M' = ?l X corde CC
or, M' = 2?58inJ/?,;
from which results that
M = W
and that consequently the centre of gravity
of the two terminal curves together, and that
of the arc C D C, is at the point O, which is
also the centre of gravity of the entire spring.
It is to be remarked that this consequence is
independent of the magnitude of the angle (3,
or of the interval which separates the points
0 and C.
The author farther proves that this coinci-
dence of the centres of gravity takes place not
only in the primitive state of the hair-spring,
but that it is also a consequence of the
invariability of the centre of gravity of the
coils, whatever may be the extent of the angle
of rotation of the balance. Thus the termi-
nal curves, indicated by this theory, produce
the isochronism by satisfying the two condi-
ditions, to annul all pressure against the axis
of the balance, and to place the centre of
gravity of the entire hair-spring on this axis,
and that, too — which is important to be men-
tioned— whatever may be the relative posi-
tions of the two curves, one above the other.
Moreover, they also possess the properties
of causing certain perturbations to disappear,
which are detrimental to the isochronism or
its preservation; they thus realize the free
hair-spring, that from which the balance suf-
fers no pressure, and by which the frictiou
and its variability, on account of the thick-
ening of the oil, is reduced to its minimum.
All the preceding properties of the curves
subsist, whatever may be the angular space
which, in the construction of the spring,
separate its two ends. There is in this angle,
or what is the same thing, in the total length
of the hair-spring, an element by means of
which we may reach the closest possible
approximation to isochronism, by making it
longer or shorter.
In tracing these curves graphically, the
author proceeds in the following way: he
supposes that the point A (Fig. 5) at which the
end of the curve is to be fastened be at half
the radius of the primitive circle of the coils
and that the point C, where the curve is to
leave the coils, be fixed at any angle of be-
tween 180° to 270° of arc from A around the
centre O. Draw radius O C, and another
O D, perpendicular to the first. (The draw-
ing must be made on an enlarged scale; the
most convenient may be twenty or thirty
times the real eize of the hair-spring.)
Now, a curve is to be found which shall
have its centre of gravity on this last line
O D. To this effect we may trace a first
curve ABC, approximately correct, but
meeting the coils at C at a tangent; we then
divide this curve into equal parts, ten or
twelve, for example, Ca, ab, be, cd, etc., the last
of which, Aw, shall be the only one generally
a little smaller than the others. We then
mark the centre of gravity of each of these
parts, considering them as small straight
lines, or, as the case may be, as small arcs of
a circle; we then measure the distances of
each of these centres of gravity from the line
O D, modifying the one relative to An by
multiplying it by the ratio of An to the com-
mon length of all the other arcs. With this
modification, it is to happen that the sum of
the distances of the centres of gravity which
are on one side of 0 D shall be equal to the
sum of the distances of those on the other
side of O D. If this condition is not fulfilled,
it will be easy to modify one or the other por-
tion of the curve in such a manner as to
arrive at the desired result. This first point
established, we have yet to satisfy the second
condition, viz., that the distance 0 G of the
centre of gravity to the centre of the coils be
equal to -f> p0 being the radius of the coils,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
155
and / the length of the curve ABC. Now
in order to obtain the distance of the centre
of gravity of the curve from the centre O, we
measure the distances of the centres of grav-
ity of all the little'arcs Ca, ab, be, etc., from the
line C 0 E, again modifying the one in rela-
tion to Xn by multiplying it by the ratio of An
to the lengths of the other little arcs. We
then take the algebraical sum of all these dis-
tances, regarding as positive those which are
on the right of C E, i. e., on the same side as
H, and as negative those which are on the
oi;her side; we then multiply this sum by the
length common to the elements Ca, ab, be, etc.,
and divide the product by the length of the
curve ABC. The quotient, which will give
the distance O Gr, shall then be equal to
-r' Should this equality not take place, it
will be easy to modify the curve in such a
manner as to arrive at it, all the while satis-
fying the first condition.
In fact, suppose, in order to fix this idea in
the student's mind, that the distance O G
thus obtained be greater than — , we can
take on one side and the other of the point
B two arcs B M and B N, such that then-
centre of gravity be on O D, which could be
easily verified, and substitute for the arc
M B N an interior one M I N, the centre of
gravity of which is also on O D, but the sum
of the distances of which from the line C E
will be evidently less. It is clear that in this
way we would very soon arrive at the desired
results. We can next reduce the curve to its
real size by a like curve traced around the
centre of the coils.
As for the flat hair-spring the preceding
laws cannot be established except, as we have
already mentioned, for very small vibra-
tions of the balance, since it is evident
that it cannot be constructed so, that
during angular motions of the balance of
whatever extent, the centre of gravity of
the spring shall remain on the centre of the
axis of the balance. If the laws of the theory
of Prof. Phillips are true, and they are un-
questionably proved to be so, any attempt at
obtaining isochronism in the flat hair-spring
would seem to be a vain waste of time and
talents, and indeed most of the theories ad-
vanced on this subject by workmen are mere
blind ideas, utterly undemonstrable on the
ground of any rule or law.
Different is it with those flat springs the
outside coil of which is brought back again
nearer the centre, called Breguet springs. In
these all the laws applicable to the cylindrical
ones can be established ; indeed the author
proves abundantly that it is in no respect in-
ferior to the cylindrical spring, provided the
coil brought back again to the centre be
curved so as to fulfil ^the conditions «;stab-
lished with respect to the centre of gravity of
the curve. In addition to this, it is of the
greatest importance that the flat spring, called
" Breguet spring," should be as long as pos-
sible and coiled very closely, for then it will
deform itself less during the vibrations of the
balance, open and shut more concentrically
to the axis, and therefore tend less to press
the pivots of the balance against the sides
of the holes ; this is otherwise well known,
and the necessity of it abundantly proved
by all writers on the subject.
Retrospect. — We have seen by equation (4)
that the power necessary to hold the balance
in equilibrium against the action of the hair-
spring is proportionate to the angle which the
balance has described ; — we shall add to this
a number of tables of experiments by which
the author has abundantly proved this rela-
tion— and we have in this equation the amount
G expressed in the amount of elasticity of the
hair-spring, from which it results that the
angle of motion of the balance is always
proportionate to the length and elasticity of
the hair-spring, or vice versa. Directly from
these principles, and introducing the amount
of inertia A of the balance, formula (8) has
been deduced expressing the duration of the
oscillations of the balance, which is here shown
to be proportionate to the square root of the
length of the hair-spring ; — a table of experi-
ments of the author's will be added, showing
the manner in which these durations of the
oscillations vary with the length of the
springs. In order to make these vibrations
of the balance isochronal, it has been shown
necessary that the hair-spring during its
motions be deformed according to the law
- — — =j, which law we have illustrated by
156
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
Fig. 3 ; for an illustration of the non-existence
of this law in the hair-spring and its conse-
quences, we add Fig. 6, where the white
circle again indicates the coils of the spring
in their n**i™i+-'ve position, but where the
radii of tne ciroiou oi tne cous vtny unequally
according to the angle of motion, and with
respect to the centre of the axis of the balance,
as represented by the dotted circles. The
means of establishing this law in the spring
the author has discovered in certain terminal
curves, the conditions and finding of which
are shown and illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5.
It would be impossible to prove to the un-
initiated all the reasons, the whys and the
wherefores of these results, so that they
should be able to grasp it ; to do this it would
be necessary to teach them all the branches of
mathematical science, the highest not except-
ed ; but it is to be hoped that those at least who
are desirous of learning to work correctly
and according to sound principles will be
benefited, inasmuch as it will stimulate
them to research. "We may mention that a
complete translation of the entire work of
Prof. Phillips on the hair-spring, combined
with explanations and references, is proposed
by the writer of this, should it be found likely
to recompense him for the cost and labor.
Those who would think it of sufficient interest
to possess such a work may indicate it to the
editor of the Journal.
The following tables contain experiments
made with a view to test the influence of the-
oretical curves as to the isochronism of the
vibrations. In these experiments an elastic
balance has been used weighing nearly one
milligramme, by means of which the force
necessary to maintain the balance at certain
angles from its primitive position of equilib-
rium, has been measured, and the law of the
proportionality between force and the angle
of motion tested and proved. The tables
will explain themselves.
First Experiment. — Hair-spring with theo-
retically curved extremes, but having only 1\
coils.
Angles-
Force in
Grammes-
Loss of Angle
by permanent
Deformation.
Force reduced
to 22£° by the
proportion of
the angles.
Decrees-
Grammes.
Decrees.
Grammes.
22J
1 542
0.
1.542
45
3.084
0.
1.542
67^
4.620
0 1
1.5423
90
6 150
0.166
1.5404
135
9.222
0.2
1.5393
180
12.305
0.26
1.5404
225
15.360
0.35
1.5384
270
18.440
0.6
1.5401
It may be seen by the fourth column that
the proportionality is as nearly perfect as pos-
sible, and yet it must be remembered that
the spring had but 1\ coils, and that there
was some slight friction.
The second experiment has been made with
a spring a little longer but having extreme
curves made far from combining any theoret-
ical conditions.
Second Experiment. — Spring with 8 coils,
curves not theoretical.
Force in
Grammes.
Loss of Angle
Force reduced
Angles.
by permanent
to the Propor-
deformation.
tion of 22i°.
Degrees.
Grammes.
Deerreess.
Gramma.
22*
1 500
0.
1.500
45
2.983
0.
1.4915
67*
4 461
0.
1.4870
90
5.930
0.5
1.4833
135
8 875
0.15
1.4808
180
11.815
0.20
1.4823
225
14.807
0.27
1.4825
270
17.820
0.50
1.4878
It will suffice to compare the 4th column
of this table with the preceding experiment
to see at once that the law of the proportion-
ality is much less perfect in this.
The next two experiments were made with
hair-springs of but 4 coils, made of steel
which was not very homogeneous. The ter-
minal curves of one were made theoretically,
those of the other not.
Third Experiment.— Saving with 4 coils —
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
157
steel not very homogeneous — with theoretical-
ly made curves.
Force in
Grammes.
Loss of Ancle
Force reduced
Angles.
bv permanent
to the Propor-
Deformation.
tion of 22£°.
Decree?.
Grammes.
Decrees.
Grammes.
22$
1.542
0.3
1.5628
45
3.092
0.4
1.5600
90
6.215
0.5
1 5624
180
12.472
0.6
1 5642
270
18.581
2.2
1.5611
We see that the proportionality is yet very
nearly perfect.
Fourth Experiment. — Spring with 4 coils —
6teel not very homogeneous — with terminal
curves not made theoretically.
Angles.
Force in
Grammes.
Loss of Angle
by permanent
Deformation.
Decrees.
22$
45
90
180
270
grammes.
1.569
3.150
6 271
12 475
18.780
Decrees.
0.1
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.9
Force reduced
to the Propor-
tion of 22i°.
Grammes.
1.5760
1 5820
1 5747
1.5646
1.5703
We see that notwithstanding the bad qual-
ity of steel, and the small number of coils,
the preceding spring gives very nearly the
proportionality, while the last one is very far
from doing so.
The foil owing four experiments were made
with the hair-springs of the first and the sec-
ond experiments ; but they are interesting in
as much as, the friction having been dimin-
ished, the spring with theoretical curves still
showed great advantage over the other.
Fifth Experiment. — Spring of the first ex-
periment with theoretical curves, with the
.•iction of the balance diminished.
Angles.
Force in
Loss of Angle
by permanent
Deformation.
Force reduced
to the propor-
tion of 22±°.
Degrees.
Grammes.
Degrees.
Grammes.
22$
1.538
0
1.5380
45
3.076
0
5380
67$
4.611
0.05
1 5381
90
6.132
0.25
1.5375
135
9 219
0.17
1.5384
180
12 286
0 40
1 5390
225
15.366
0.37
1.5390
270
18.470
0.45
1.5387
We see that the proportionality is very
close.
Sixth Experiment. — Spring of the second
experiment — curves not theoretical— but with
the balance of the fifth experiment.
Force in
Grammes.
Loss of Angle
Force reduced
Angles.
bv Permanent
Deformation.
to the propor-
tion of 22$°.
Degrees.
Grammes.
Degrees.
Grammes.
22$
1 500
0.
1 . 5000
45
3 002
0 05
1 5027
67±
4.489
0.
1.4963
90
5.967
0.05
1.4926
135
8 938
0 05
1 4902
180
11.906
0.125
1.4893
225
14 866
0 23
1 4881
270
17.872
0.25
1.4907
We see the proportionality is much less ap-
proximated here, than in the preceding exper-
iment.
Seventh Experiment. — Spring of the first
experiment — theoretical curves— but with a
smaller balance, and the friction very much
reduced.
Force in
Grammes.
Loss of Angle
Force reduced
Angles.
by permanent
to the propor-
Deformation.
tion of 22$*
Degrees.
Grammes.
Degrees.
Grammes.
22$
1 565
0
1.5650
45
3 130
0
1.5650
67$
4.692
0.05
1.5651
90
6.261
0
1 5652
135
9.381
0.143
1.5652
180
12 500
0.333
1.5654
225
15 640
0.10
1.5647
270
18.757
0.20
1 5643
Eighth Experiment. — Spring of the second
experiment — curves not theoretical — but with
the balance of the seventh experiment.
Loss of Angle
Force reduced
Angles.
Force.
by permanent
to the propor-
Deformation.
tion of 22$°.
Degrees.
Grammes.
Degrees.
Grammes.
22$
1 507
0 05
1.5103
45 ^
3.024
0.10
1.5153
67$
4 538
0.10
1.5149
90
6.055
0.143
1.5161
135
9 . 073
0 25
1.5150
180
12.106
0 . 333
1.5160
225
15.146
0 5
1.5180
270
18.198
0.5
1.5193
We see that the spring of the seventh
experiment has still considerable advantage
over that of the eighth.
158
AMEBICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
It has been shown that the duration of the
oscillations of the balance is proportionate to
the square root of the length of the hair-
spring. The following table will permit us to
Bee at once the manner in which the duration
varies with the length of the hair-spring.
Table showing the proportion of the number of vibrations
of the balance in a given time, to the different lengths of a
hair-spring.
Proportion of the
Proportion of
Proportion of
lumber of vi-
Proportion of;
.he number of
the lengths of
)rations of the
thelengthsof
vibrations of
a hair-spring.
lalance in a
a hair-spring.
he balance in a
given time.
given time.
0.99
1.0050
0.59
1.3019
0.98
1.0101
0.58
1.3133
0.97
1.0153
0.57
1.3245
0.96
1.0206
0.56
1.3363
0.95
1.0260
0 55
1 . 3484
0.94
1.0314
0.54
1.3608
0.93
1.0370
0.53
1.3736
0.92
1.0426
0.52
1.3867
0.91
1.0483
0.51
1 . 4003
0.90
1.0541
0.50
1.4142
0.89
1.0600
0.49
1.4286
0.88
1.0660
0.48
1.4434
0 87
1.0721
0.47
1.4587
0.86
1.0783
0.46
1 4744
0.85
1 0846
0 45
1.4907
0.84
1.0911
0.44
1 5076
0.83
1 0977
0.43
1.5250
0.82
1.1043
0.42
1.5430
0.81
1.1111
0 41
1.5618
0.80
1.1180
0.40
1.5811
0.T9
1 1251
0.39
1.6013
0.78
1.1323
0.38
1.6222
0.77
1.1396
0.37
1.6440
0.7(5
1.1471
0.36
1.6667
0.75
1.1547
0.35
1 . 6903
0.74
1.1625
0 34
1 7150
0.73
1.1704
0.33
1 7408
0.72
1.1785
0.32
1.7677
0.71
1 1868
0.31
1.7960
0.70
1.1952
0.30
1 8257
0.09
1.2038
0.29
1 8570
0 (58
1.2127
0.28
1.8898
0.67
1 2217
0.27
1 9245
0.GG
1.2309
0.26
1.9612
0.65
1.2403
0.25
2.0000
0 64
1.2500
0.24
2.0412
0.63
1.2599
0 23
2 0851
0 62
1.2700
0 22
2. 1320
0.61
1.2803
0.21
2.1822
0.60
1.2910
0.20
2.2361
HoROLOGIST.
RNGfij
LYING ON JEWELRY AND
PLATE.
For lettering upon jewelry and plate it is
necessary to have thirty or forty gravers —
several being required similar in shape to
those used by engravers on wood or steel.
These tools are straight on the bottom, the
width making the different degrees of fine-
ness ; but for gold or silver ware that is hol-
lowed the straight tool cannot be used; it is
necessary that the points of the gravers turn
upwards. In several tools the points may be
turned up sufficiently by grinding the
tool on an oil-stone, but in others the tool is
bent upwards, as much as required,
before it is hardened — the face being made
as in other gravers. By " face," we mean the
end of the tool that is ground on the oil-stone
to sharpen it. An oil-stone for sharpening
tools is, of course, essential, and must be
of fine quality, and sweet oil is the best for
using on it.
A stand, with an arm to hold a magnifying
glass, is required; the arm having a joint in it,
with a screw, which permits the glass to be
placed on any required plane. Pads or cush-
ions of several sizes are required — some
being little more than two inches across —
and are used singly or together, one on top
of another. They are also stuffed to different
degrees of hardness; some being so soft that
the article to be engraved may be indented
into it.
To hold the various articles in place, sev-
eral small adjuncts are necessary. For
holding knives, spoons, etc., small clamps are
required ; these are made of wood, and are
about four inches high, and at the top about
two inches in diameter — one diameter, how-
ever, being greater than the other — the shape
of the top being a flattened circle. This clamp
is divided in halves, slightly hollowed inside,
and joined together by a hinge at the bottom.
At the opening on the top the wood is grooved
to make a rest for the fork, spoon, or other
article to which it may be applied. The top,
with its groove, is capped with brass, and
narrow slips of leather or metal are laid into
the groove, according to the thickness of the
plate placed in it — it being essential that the
surface to be engraved shall be level with the
top of the clamp.
Half way from the bottom 4to the top a
screw permits the top to be opened to the
proper width for the article to be placed in
the rest, and holding it firmly while being
engraved. When rings are engraved on the
outside, they are slipped on smooth sticks,
which are tapered to fit different sizes of rings,
To engrave inside, the engra'v ex holds the ring
in his fingers, resting it on the cushion.
Napkin rings, pencils, heads of canes, card*
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
19
cases, etc., are also held by the fingers. To
hold a thin plate of metal in place blocks of
wood are used, small tacks at the edges of
the plate keeping it in place. A steel bur-
nisher is required by the silver engraver, also
a set of mathematical drawing tools, and
hones, covered with buff leather, to remove
the finger marks from the surface of the
metal.
To prepare an article for engraving, the en-
graver dims the surface with candle grease,
which he applies with his fingers, a very
slight quantity being sufficient.
To rule straight lines on a flat surface, a
small, thin steel rule is used. This is reo-
tangTilar in shape, with a rectangular opening,
leaving on one side and the ends a third of
an inch of metal ; on the other side two-thirds
of an inch is left. To rule lines on a circular
surface, as for instance a cup, or round nap-
kin ring, a pencil-holder is fastened at right
angles to a short rod of steel, which the en-
graver holds between his fingers at the edge
of the article, and turning it carefully makes
his lines parallel with the top. We have
seen a rod which was adjusted with a flex-
ible joint and screw, which enabled the en-
graver to set his pencil at whatever angle he
might require for the article on which he was
at work. This is especially serviceable for the
inside of silver ware, such as a cake basket.
The "pencil" used is made of boxwood,
pointed, and although its point will trace lines
on the dimmed surface, it will not scratch the
metal. Formerly steel points were used, and
where the lines traced were guide lines, it
was necessary, after the lettering was done,
to remove them with the burnisher. The
boxwood point, it may be seen, is a great
improvement.
The engraver also uses these boxwood pen-
cils to sketch out the letters he desires to
engrave; then, according to the shape of the
article, he selects a suitable graver for the
lettering. When requisite that a set of spoons,
knives, etc., shall be marked alike, one article
is engraved with the letters selected; after
which the surface is spread with a coat of
candle grease, which is carefully filled into
the lettering, and the superfluous grease is
removed from the face of the article, leaving
the letters filled. A piece of dampened woven
letter paper is then laid over the lettering,
and, with a burnisher, an impression of
the edge of the article is rubbed on the
paper, which serves for a guide to place
the paper on every article in the same posi-
tion. A second piece of paper is laid on, and
the burnisher is rubbed over the lettering till an
impression in grease is printed on the paper.
This impression is now ready to trace upon
the gold or silver as many copies as are
required. At first a slight pressure with the
fingers is sufficient to make a trace upon the
surface of the metal; afterwards the burnisher
is required. One of these impressions will
usually trace two dozen articles. The proper
gravers are selected, and the letters cut in
this tracing— the hair lines and the broad
lines being cut at different degrees of depth.
It is usual to prepare in the copy from which
the tracing is made only the body of the let-
ter; the ornamental dots and points being
added to each duplicate by the engraver —
eye-practice giving him precision in this
respect. After the article is engraved it is
wiped clean with chamois skin, no trace of
the grease remaining.
Shades and screens for the protecting of
the eyes are adjusted according to the exigen-
cies of the place in which the engraver is
obliged to work; it being generally conceded
that a north exposure gives a clearer, steadier
light than any other, but shades may be
adjusted so that any exposure may be used.
The rule should be, to have sufficient light on
the work to see well, but a glare should be
avoided. It is important that the light fall
on the work and the eyes be shaded. Atten-
tion in this respect will enable the engraver
to see better, and not wear out his eyes.
In ornamental engraving many of the tools
used are similar to those used by letter
engravers on steel, or flat silver surfaces;
technically, by the ornamental engraver, they
are called " line gravers." But to perform
most of the ornamental engraving tools are
required with fine lines cut into the bottom
of the tool, and when held steadily on
the plate a series of fine lines are cut,
known as shading. Some of these tools make
only two lines, and others make three, four,
five, or six; they are generally straight on
the bottom, and, in engraving, the hand is
160
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
held high, so that the point of the tool
touches the plate, the left hand moving it as
the design requires. At present the orna-
mentation in vogue is called "bright work,"
and is produced by holding the tool as afore-
said, and wriggling it in short, rapid turns,
the left hand turning the article. When this
wriggling is done rapidly the wave effect pro-
duced on the lines cut is almost impercepti-
ble to the naked eye. The lines made by
this method are so delicate that the light falls
on them in such a manner that it makes the
design look white on the tinted back-ground
of gold or silver, and a large variety of orna-
mental leaves, scrolls, etc., may be executed
with these tools.
For figures, animals, scrolls in outline, etc.,
the line gravers are best adapted. Many
designs employ the several kinds of tools,
which are sharpened on an oil-stone, the
same as other gravers, but for " bright work ''
it is necessary that they be polished upon a
block of wood covered with rouge and oil,
which imparts a polish to the tool that en-
ables the engraver to cut his work with great
brilliancy and beauty of effect. The orna-
mental engraver preserves proofs of his works
on paper, the same as steel-plate engravers,
which are used to trace the design again
when required.
An original design is drawn on paper, which
is then perforated with a fine needle and laid
upon the article to be engraved ; pumice
powder is then beat upon the paper, the de-
sign being traced on the plate in fine dots.
To preserve a facsimile of the engraving
on a flat surface, printers' ink is rubbed into
the lines, the surface being wiped clean in the
same manner that a steel plate is prepared
for printing ; but a silver salver or cake
basket cannot be made to pass through a
printing press ; so, to get an impression from
them, some plaster of Paris is wet with water
to the consistency of batter and poured over
the whole article. It is allowed to become
set and dry, and being then removed from
the silver ware, a perfect representation, in
black, of the design is printed on a white
surface.
This department of ornamental engraving
sometimes is classed under the head of en-
chasing, but is properly called engraving,
because the tools and manipulation are those
of the engraver, rather than of the enchaser.
METALS.
It may be somewhat of interest to part of
our readers, and possibly of advantage to
others, to know something of the various
metals in existence. A volume would not
suffice to give the history, properties, mod>
fications, and known relations of them all,
and we can give space to. no more than a
meagre outline.
Of all the elementary substances — that is,
substances whose constituent parts (if they
are not simples) have not yet been resolved — •
the metals form far the most numerous class,
and their importance in the useful arts is
equal to their extent. They are diffused uni-
versally and very equally through the earth's
crust ; some are rare, others are extremely
abundant; some of the most importance in
the metallic state, others in combination with
oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, or whatever
else. Their properties are so numerous that
we must refer to a few of them only, under
their respective heads. There are certain
properties in which all metals agree ; they
all have metallic lustre ; they are all good
conductors of heat and electricity, and are
electro-positive; that is, when a metallic com-
pound is decomposed by the electric current,
the metal is given off at the cathode or nega-
tive pole.
The most striking property of the metals
is then- lustre, which serves to distinguish
them from the non-metallic elements. This
lustre is evident, whether the metals be in
masses or in fragments ; even when in fine
dust it can be made evident by means of an
agate burnisher. The lustre seems to depend
on the opacity of the metals, and on the
facility with which they take a polish, more
or less perfect ; hence they are adapted emi-
nently to reflect light, since their opacity
prevents the transmission, and their polish
the absorption of luminous rays. There are,
however, a few exceptions to the perfect
opacity of metals, for gold leaf transmits
green rays, and leaf of the alloy of gold and
silver transmits blue rays.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
1G1
The colors of the metals are various. Cop-
per and titanium are red, bismuth is pinkish,
gold is yellow, and all the others possess a cer-
tain degree of uniformity, ranging from the
pure white of silver to the bluish-grey tint of
lead. The metals differ so much in their
densities that while potassium is lighter than
water, platinum is twenty-one times heavier
than that fluid.
The following table gives the specific grav-
ities of the more common and well known
metals :
20.98
19.26
17.60
13.57
11.30+
11.35
10 47
... . 9.82
9.00
... 7.79
Gold
Mercury
Lead
Tin:
7.40
7.29
6.86 +
6 85
... 6.70
Silver
... 6 11
. .. 5.88
... 5 30
8.89
8 . 60
... 2.00
... 1.70
Cobalt
8.54
.... 8.28
0.972
... 0.865
All these metals differ in hardness as much
as they differ in density; for while some are
very hard, others can be scratched by the
thumb-nail, or even moulded, like wax, be-
tween the fingers. The following table shows
the relative degrees of hardness of some of
them :
Titanium, Manganese — harder than steel.
Platinum, Palladium, Copper, Gold, Silver,
Tellurium, Bismuth, Cadmium, Tin — scratch-
ed by Calc. spar.
Chromium, Rhodium — scratch glass.
Nickel, Cobalt, Iron, Antimony, Zinc —
scratched by glass.
Lead — scratched by the nail.
Potassium, Sodium — soft as wax.
Mercury — licpxid at ordinary temperature.
All the metals are supposed to have the
property of assuming the crystalline form;
but it is not always easy to place them under
conditions favorable to their doing so. Many
of them occur in nature, in what is called the
native state, in a crystalline form, particularly
gold, silver, copper, and bismuth ; some
crystallize when reduced to a fluid state and
allowed to cool slowly. When a solid crust
has formed on the surface, if the fluid metal
be poured out from within, the interior of the
crust will be found lined with crystals.
Crystals of antimony, lead, and tin, may be
obtained in this way, but not so easily as with
bismuth — larger masses of metal and slower
cooling being required. In iron foundries
crystals of that metal have been found in the
midst of large masses, which have been allow-
ed to cool slowly.
Some metals are precipitated in a crystal-
line form from a solution of their salts by
another metal; a strip of zinc, in a solution
of acetate of lead, precipitates the lead in
feathery crystals; silver is thus deposited by
mercury, and gold from an ethereal solution
by a stick of phosphorus. Electric currents
of feeble intensity produce crystals from
metallic solutions, and it may be owing to
this action within the earth's crust, that many
of the metals are found in a native crystalline
form.
Metals are more or less valuable in the
arts in proportion to their ductility and mal-
leability, which permits them to be drawn
into wire, and beaten or pressed into thin
leaves. The following list is arranged in the
order of malleability:
Gold, Zinc,
Silver, Iron,
Copper, Nickel,
i n, Palladium,
Cadmium, Potassium,
Platinum, Sodium.
Lead,
The ductility of the metals does not follow
the order of their malleability, as the follow-
ing table will show :
Gold, Zinc,
Silver, Tin,
Platinum, Lead,
Iron, Palladium,
Nickel, Cadmium.
Copper,
The ductility of metals depends upon their
tenacity, or power of resisting the tension
necessary to apply to them in forcing them
through the holes of the draw plate, which is
simply applying sufficient force to cause the
particles of metal to flow in front of the plate,
as has been shown clearly in one of the earlier
numbers of the Journal.
Silver can be drawU into wire -g^ of an
inch in diameter, and by enveloping an ingot
of gold with silver previous to driwing, a
single grain of gold may be drawn into a
wire 550 feet long; this wire is covered with
silver, which may be removed by dilute
162
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
nitriG acid, leaving the enclosed gold wire only
the 6 Ox0 j of an inch in diameter. Platinum
has been drawn in this manner to the ginnnj-
of an inch in diameter.
The tenacity of metals is the power which
they possess of resisting tension without
breaking. It varies with the different metals,
and the following table will show their relative
tenacity as compared among themselves.
The following weights are sustained by wires
0.787 of a line in diameter.
Iron 249.250 lbs. I Gold 150.753 lbs.
Copper ...302.278 " | Zinc 109.510 "
Platinum 274.320 " Tin 34.630 "
Silver 187.237 " | Lead 27.621 "
The tenacity varies greatly in the same
metal, with its purity and its method of prep-
aration, it being much diminished bv anneal-
ing. A soft iron wire which sustained a
weight of 26 lbs., after annealing broke with
a weight of only 12 lbs., and one of copper
which sustained 22 lbs. before annealing, was
broken by 9 lbs. after being annealed. The
process of annealing seems to have removed
the particles to a greater distance from each
other, thus diminishing the cohesive attrac-
tion between the particles by just so much
as the annealing has separated them.
The conducting powers of the metals are
as various as their other qualities, and their
examination property comes in the series of
articles on heat which we are now publish-
ing, as does also their fusibility. Some of the
metals, if slightly elevated in temperature, par-
ticularly by friction, evolve an odor which is
quite perceptible to sensitive organs of smell.
We have known persons who could detect a
plated article by the frictional odor of the
enclosed base metal.
Copper, iron, and tin are especially notice-
able for this quality of odor, and also for
their metallic taste.
The harder metals are also elastic, and
consequently more or less sonorous, but these
qualities are more conspicuous in alloys
which are formed by certain combinations of
metals with each other. This subject of the
alloy of metals is one of the most important
of their properties, and in its ramifications
and uses embraces every department of art;
and is, in fact, as fascinating to some minds
as the subject of perpetual motion to others.
We do think, and must say, that it is one of
the branches of metallurgy, which has been
too much and too long neglected; a few doz-
en metallic alloys are all that science (or ac-
cident) has contributed to the useful arts,
while the chemical metallic combinations are
numbered by thousands. Modern science
is yearly adding to the list of known metals,
but how few useful combinations of them are
ever heard of. Were one -tenth of the thought,
labor, and mone/ spent upon alloys, that is
spent upon useless mechanical invention, we
doubt not but that very surprising and
useful results would be brought to light. No
scientific reasoning on the resultant of the
combination of two metals, can prove truth-
ful ; nothing short of actual experiment can
be relied upon. Who would have dreamed
that the combination of two metals as soft as
tin and copper, would produce so hard a com-
pound as speculum metal ? And it is as sur-
prising that the sweet and limpid glycerine,
combined with nitric acid, should form that
truly fearful combination — Nitro-glycerine,
We hope to see the day when the com-
binations of metals with metals shall be
as fully developed as are now their
combinations with the non-metallic elements.
We shall hereafter speak further on this sub-
ject of alloys.
The combinations of the simple metals
with the non-metallic simples, form the basis
of compounds which are infinite, and in most
of these combinations the metallic character-
istics are lost sight of. In all the oxides,
chlorides, sulphides, etc., etc., the metallic
peculiarities disappear, anel with many of the
compounds the highest chemical skill is re-
quired to eliminate the metallic base. It is
this tenacity with which they cling to their
affinities that renders their separation so dif-
ficult; and it is only by the persevering sk 11
of the chemist that the new metals are being
slowly but constantly divorced from their
firm attachments.
J5@°- Good oil is essential to the correc
performance of a watch, and parties using
Kelley's oil will require to exercise caution in
its purchase, as a spurious article has been
thrown on the market.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
163
TRAVELLING OPTICIANS.
Editor Horological Journal:
There is no profession or branch of trade
that can claim freedom from charlatans and
impostors, and outside of the medical profes-
sion I know of none that feel the baneful in-
fluence of these unprincipled scoundrels more
than do the jewellers and opticians. It is not
to be supposed that charlatanry can be put
down as long as unprincipled men and a
gullible public exist ; but if those who can,
will exert themselves in the proper direction
when the occasion offers, they can most ef-
fectually bring some of these impostors to
grief. I wish to direct the attention of your
readers to a class of men who travel about
the country calling themselves "Opticians."
As nearly every watchmaker or jeweller who
has a store keeps spectacles, even if he is not
a regular optician, they will undoubtedly be
interested in this subject to a greater or less
extent. I will first state that it is a well
established fact that no physician of character
or standing in his profession, or the commu-
nity in which he lives, ever travels about the
country seeking patients ; the moment that
he does so, he proves his incapacity to do what
he claims that he can and will do. If any
one of these travelling doctors could do what
they my they can do, instead of seeking pati-
ents first in one place then another, they would
have a thousand times more than they could
attend to even if they were located on the
top of one of the Rocky Mountains. Now,
the science of medicine and that of optics are
closely allied, and all these opticians claim
to cure diseases of the e}re; i. e., they are ocu-
lists as well as opticians, or as some of them
advertise themselves " Optical Oculists." And
the remarks that I have made about travel-
ling physicians are equally applicable to
travelling " Oculists."
An Oculist is one who understands the
anatomy of the eye, can determine the charac-
ter of any abnormal .condition of the same,
either congenital or that caused by accident
or disease, and can cure such cases as are
curable, or devise means to counteract some
of these abnormal conditions to a greater or
less extent. An Optician is one who makes or
sells optical goods, and who ought to have a
pretty thorough knowledge of the science of
optics, especially if he expects to succeed in
his business, or do justice to his customers.
Of course an oculist must fully understand
the science of optics, the laws of the refraction
and reflection of light. Now, every man who
keeps spectacles for sale ought to know some-
thing about optics, so as to be able to select
such glasses as are suitable, and of the proper
focus, for the great majority of his customers;
for very few men can select the proper glasses
for themselves without the aid of some one
who is competent to assist them. Now, if
every watchmaker throughout the country
would only inform himself on this subject, he
would not only be able to do justice to his
customers, but could protect them from the
travelling so-called opticians. I have never
yet heard of a single travelling optician who
was anything but a humbug. They are usu-
ally men who have a great deal of assurance,
and are what are called " sharp fellows."
They make use of a great many high-sound-
ing words, talk very learnedly about the pecu-
liarities of the eye, and create the impression
upon the minds of those who are ignorant of
the subject that this particular " Professor "
is the only man in the world, or at least the
only one that travels (they all denounce each
other as humbugs) who is qualified to select
spectacles for the afflicted, and in fact the only
man who has spectacles that are fit to be
worn, which are " adjusted to the eye upon
principles entirely his own, which have never
been known to fail." They usually claim to
have factories in Europe, or are professors
in some eye hospital, or something of the
kind, and all claim to make their own spec-
tacles ; and it seems the more and bigger
lies they can tell, the more readily they are
believed.
I have never yet failed to run these chaps
off when they have come into my section.
As soon as one of these " Professors" arrives
he usually advertises very extensively. I do
the same, and state that I will test spectacles
for anybody free of charge (as the spectacles
sold by these fellows, are nearly always sold for
pebbles, and are in reality nothing but glass).
I also give the price of pebble and other
spectacles in steel, silver, and gold frames —
what they are sold for by resident opticians.
164
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
etc. I make my advertisement as conspicuous
as the " celebrated opticians," and tell nothing
but the truth, and put in plenty of local.
They cannot stand exposure, and if the at-
tention of the public is only called to these
chaps, by some one who can show them up,
their occupation is gone in that place. Every
one of these men that I have exposed, has
threatened to whip me (sol have been told);
but they never tried it on.
The smartest and sharpest travelling optic-
ian that I ever saw paid us a visit not long ago.
He came with four or five large trunks, and a
very large stock of spectacles, and gave out
that he would remain a month. That was
the length of time he staid in each place
that he visited, and he would usually take in
from $2,000 to $6,000 in that short time. As
he charged from $10.00 to $15.00 a pair for
steel frame spectacles, and $30.00 a pair for
gold frames, the profits can be easily calcula-
ted. He secured the parlor of the hotel for
his show and salesroom, displayed his goods
to the best advantage, had some large pieces
of glass, also of rock crystal, and his optomi-
ter, etc., all arranged to attract attention.
He then procured a carriage, and personally
called to see the principal doctors and preach-
ers, and gave each a pressing invitation to
call and see his spectacles, instruments, etc. ;
at a certain hour they did so, and the" Prof."
gave each a pair of spectacles, explaining the
marvellous good qualities of the same, and
denouncing all others to be injurious to the
eye, — exhibited a diploma that he claimed to
have received from some medical college in
Europe, spoke very learnedly and fluently of
the different diseases of the eye, and then
requested these gentlemen to sign some of
his printed certificates, which went on to say,
that " Prof. wa6 the most scientific opti-
cian and oculist that they had ever seen ;
that he made his spectacles on truly scientific
principles, so much better than any others
they had ever seen, "etc., etc. In every place
but this the M. D.s and D. D.s would sign
the certificates, which the "Prof." would put
in the paper as part of his advertisement.
This would be done before he would offer a
single pair for sale. Now when the commu-
nity saw the names of these learned and good
men, whom they knew to be honest gentle-
men, appended to these certificates, the effect
would be magical ; everybody who used
spectacles fairly flocked to this man's room,
and exchanged their " ducats " for spectacles.
Now you will ask, why did these physicians
and others sign these certificates if the man
was a humbug? Simply because there is
not one physician in fifty that knows com-
paratively anything about the eye. If they
have a patient who is afflicted with some
disease of that organ, which is seldom the
case, other than some simple case of inflam-
mation or something of that kind, they send
him to some one who makes a specialty of
that class of diseases, and consequently he
signs the cei'tificate through ignorance ; or
in other words he is imposed upon. I had
seen this man's advertisement before he came
here, and as soon as he came I called the
attention of our physioians to what other
physicians had certified to. They immedi-
ately saw the point, and said that they could
not see how any Dr. could certify that the
"Prof." made his own spectacles, and upon
scientific principles, etc., when they had not
seen him make them ; in other words, they
could not vouch for the accuracy of what a
perfect stranger would say about himself,
and more especially when he did not have a
single certificate from any oculist or optician
in this country, which explains why the
physicians of this place did not sign the certi-
ficates. They called on the gentleman with
their eyes open. The next morning my ad-
vertisement appeared, giving the price of
spectacles, etc., etc. ; that day the "Prof."
said that he "did not think he had been
treated properly, and as the place was so
small he would leave ; but would be back
again soon." Now if he could have met with
the same reception in every city that he
visited, his career would have been short ;
for he did not sell a single pair of spectacles
during his stay here. There is no doubt but
what this man would have swindled our
community out of at least $3,000, if I had
held my tongue. Now let every watchmaker
devote some of his spare time to the study of
optics, and then get " "Wells on Long, Short
and Weak Sight," published by Lindsay &
Blackiston, Philadelphia. Jas. Fkickeb.
Amsricus, Ga.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
165
LIGHT*
NUMBER TWO.
THE REFLECTION OF LIGHT ( CATOPTRICS ) PLANE
MIRRORS.
When light passes from one optical medium
to another, a portion of it is always turned
back or reflected.
Light is regularly reflected by a polished
surface ; but if the surface be not polished
the light is irregularly reflected or scattered.
Thus a piece of ordinary drawing-paper will
scatter a beam of light that falls upon it so
as to illuminate a room. A plane mirror
receiving the sunbeam will reflect it in a
definite direction, and illuminate intensely a
small portion of the room. If the polish of
the mirror were perfect it would be invisible —
we should simply see in it the images of
other objects ; if the room were without dust
particles, the beam passing through the air
would also be invisible. It is the light scat-
tered by the mirror and by the particles sus-
pended in the air which renders them visible.
A ray of light striking as a perpendicular
against a reflecting surface is reflected back
along the perpendicular ; it simply retraces
its own course. If it strike the surface
obliquely, it is reflected obliquely. Draw a
perpendicular to the surface at the point
where the ray strikes it ; the angle enclosed
between the direct ray and this perpendicular
is called the angle of incidence. The angle
enclosed by the reflected ray and the perpen-
dicular is called the angle of reflection. It is
a fundamental law of optics that the angle of
incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
VERIFICATION OF THE LAW OF REFLECTION.
Fill a basin with water to the brim, the
water being blackened by a little ink. Let a
Bmall plummet — a small lead bullet, for exam-
ple— suspended by a thread, hang into the
water. The water is to be our horizontal
mirror, and the plumb-line our perpendicu-
lar. Let the plummet hang from the centre
of a horizontal scale, with inches marked
upon it right and left from the point of sus-
pension, which is to be the zero of the scale.
A lighted candle is to be placed on one side
of the plumb-line, the observer's eye being at
the other.
* Extracts from Prof. Tyndall's lectures on Light
The question to be solved is this : — How is
the ray which strikes the liquid surface at the
foot of the plumb-line reflected ? Moving the
candle along the scale, so that the tip of its
flame shall stand opposite different numbers,
it is found that, to see the reflected tip of the
flame in the direction of the fool of the plumb-
line, the line of vision must cut the scale as
far on the one side of that line as the candle
is on the other. In other words, the ray
reflected from the foot of the perpendicular
cuts the scale accurately at the candle's dis-
tance on the other side of the perpendioular.
From this it immediately follows that the
angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.
With an artificial horizon of this kind, and
employing a theodolite to take the necessary
angles, the law has been established with the
most rigid accuracy. The angle of elevation
to a star being taken by the instrument, the
telescope is then pointed downwards to the
image of the star reflected from the artificial
horizon. It is always found that the direct
and reflected rays enclose equal angles with
the horizontal axis of the telescope, the
reflected ray "Jbeing as far below the hor-
izontal axis as the direct ray is above
it. On account of the star's distance the ray
which strikes the reflecting surface is parallel
with the ray which reaches the telescope
directly, and from this follows, by a brief but
rigid demonstration, the law above enun-
ciated.
The path described by the direct and
reflected rays is the shortest possible. When
the reflecting surface is roughened, rays from
different pofnts, more or less distant from
each other, reach the eye. Thus, a breeze
crisping the surface of the Thames or Ser-
pentine sends to the eye, instead of single
images of the lamps upon their margin, pil-
lars of light. Blowing upon our basin of
water, we also convert the reflected light of
our candle into a luminous column. Light is
reflected with different energy by different
substances. At a perpendicular incidence,
only 18 rays out of every 1000 are reflected
by water, 25 rays per 1000 by glass, while 666
per 1000 are reflected by mercury.
When the rays strike obliquely, a greater
amount of light than that stated in 60 is .
166
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
reflected by water and glass. Thus, at an
incidence of 40°, water reflects 22 rays ; at
60°, 65 rays ; at 80°, 333 rays ; and at 89i°
(almost grazing the surface) it reflects 721
rays out of every 1000. This is as much as
mercury reflects at the same incidence. The
augmentation of the light reflected as the ob-
liquity of incidence is increased, may be illus-
trated by our basin of water. Hold the can-
dle so that its rays enclose a large angle with
the liquid surface, and notice the brightness
of its -image. Lower both the candle and
the eye until the direct and reflected rays as
nearly as possible graze sthe liquid surface ;
the image of the flame is now much brighter
than before.
Reflection from Looking-glasses. — Various
instructive experiments with a looking-glass
may here be performed and understood.
Note first when a candle is placed between
the glass and the eye, so that a liue from the
eye through the candle is perpendicular to
the glass, that one well-defined image of tl e
candle only is seen. Let the eye now be moved
so as to receive an oblique reflection ; the
image is no longer single, a series of images
at first partially overlapping each other being
seen. By rendering the incidence sufficiently
oblique, these images, if tbe glass be suffi-
ciently thick, may be completely separated
from each other.
The first image of the series arises from
the reflection of the light from the anterior
surface of the glass. The second image, which
is usually much the brightest, arises from re-
flection at the silvered surface of tbe glass.
At lai'ge incidences, as we have just learned,
metallic reflection far transcends that from
glass. The other images of the series are
produced by the reverberation of the light
from surface to surface of the glass. At
every return from the silvered surface a por-
tion of the light quits the glass and reaches
the eye, forming an image ; a portion is also
sent back to the silvered surface, where it is
again reflected. Part of this reflected beam
also reaches the eye and yields another
image. This process continues; the quantity
of light reaching the eye growing gradually
less, and, as a consequence, the successive
images growing dimmer, until finally they
become too dim to be visible.
A very instructive experiment illustrative
of the augmentation of the reflection from
glass, through augmented obliquity, may here
be made. Causing the candle and the eye to
approach the looking-glass, the first ima~e
becomes gradually brighter ; and you end by
rendering the image reflected from the glass
brighter, more luminous, than that reflected
from the metal. Irregularities in the reflec-
tion from looking-glasses often show them-
selves ; but with a good glass — and there are
few7 glasses so defective as not to possess, at
all events, some good portions — the succes-
sion of images is that here indicated.
Position and Character of Images in Plane
Mirrors. — The image in a plane mirror ap-
pears as far behind the mirror as the object
is in front of it. This follows immediately
from the law which announces the equality
of the angles of incidence and reflection.
Draw a line representing the section of a
plane mirror ; place a point in front Lof it.
Rays issue from that point, are reflected from
the mirror and strike the pupil of the eye.
The pupil is the base of a cone of such rays.
Produce the rays backward ; they will inter-
sect behind the mkror, and the point will
be seen as if it existed at the place of inter-
section. The place of intersection is easily
proved to be as far behind the mirror as the
point is in front of it.
Exercises in determining the positions of
images in a plane mirror, the positions of the
objects being given, are here desirable. The
image is always found by simply letting fall a
perpendicular from each point of the object,
and producing it behind the mirror, so as to
make the part behind equal to the part
in front. Yv'e thus learn that the image is of
the same size and shape as the object, agree-
ing with it in all respects save one — the
image is a lateral inversion of the object. t
This inversion enables us, by means of
a mirror, to read writing written backward,
as if it were written in the usual way. Com-
positors arrange their type in this backward
fashion, the type being reversed by the pro-
cess of printing. A looking-glass enables us
to read the type as the printed page.
Lateral inversion comes into play whenjwe
look at our own faces in a glass. The right
cheek of the object, for example, is the left
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
167
cheek of the image ; the right hand of the
object the left hand of the image, etc. The
hah* parted on the left in the object is seen
parted to the right of the image, etc. A plane
mirror half the height of an object gives an
image which embraces the whole height.
This is readily deduced from what has gone
before. If a plane mirror be caused to move
parallel with itself, the motion of an image
in the mirror moves with twice its rapidity.
The same is true of a rotating mirror ; when
a plane mirror is caused to rotate, the angle
described by the image is twice that described
by the mirror. In a mirror inclined at an
angle of 45° to the horizon, the image of an
erect object appears horizontal, while the
image of a horizontal object appears erect.
An. object placed between two mirrors?
enclosing an angle yields a number of images
depending upon the angle enclosed by the
mirrors. The smaller the angle, the greater
is the number of images. To find the num-
ber of images, divide 360° by the number of
degrees in the angle enclosed by the two mir-
rors; the quotient, if a whole number, will be
the number of images, plus one, or it will
i aclude the images and the object. The con-
struction of the kaleidoscope depends on this.
When the angle becomes 0 — in other words,
when the mirrors are parallel — the number
of images is infinite. Practically, however,
we see between parallel mirrors a long suc-
cession of images, which become gradually
feebler, and finally cease to be sensible to the
eye.
REFLECTION FROM CURVED SURFACES ; CONCAVE
MIRRORS.
It has been already stated and illustrated
that light moves in straight lines, which
receive the name of rays. Such rays may be
either divergent, parallel, or convergent.
Rays issuing from terrestrial points are ne-
cessarily divergent. Rays from the eun or
stars are, in consequence of the immense dis-
tances of these objects, sensibly parallel. By
suitably reflecting them, we can render the
rays from terrestrial sources either parallel or
convergent. This is done by means of concave
mirrors. In its reflection from such mirrors,
light obeys the law already enunciated for
plane mirrors. The angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of reflection.
Let M N be a very small portion of the
circumference of a circle with its centre at O.
Let the line a x, passing through the centre,
cut the arc M N into two equal parts at a.
Then imagine the curve M N twirled round
a a: as a fixed axis ; the curve would describe
part of a spherical surface. Suppose the sur-
face turned towards x to be silvered over,
we should then have a concave spherical
reflector ; and we have now to understand
the action of this reflector upon light.
The line a xis the principal axis of the mir-
ror. All rays from a point placed at the centre
O strike the surface of the mirror as perpen-
diculars, and after reflection return to O. A
luminous point placed on the axis beyond O,
say at x, throws a divergent cone of rays
upon the mirror. These rays are rendered
convergent on reflection, and they intersect
each other at some point on the axis between
the centre 0 and the mirror. In every case
the direct and the reflected rays (x m and m.
x, for example) enclose equal angles with tie
radius (Obi) drawn to the point of incidence.
Supposing x to be exceedingly distant, say as
far away as the sun from the small mirror—
or, more correctly, supposing it to be infi-
nitely distant, — then the rays falling upon the
mirror will be parallel. After reflection such
rays intersect each other, at a point midway
between the mirror and its centre. This point,
which is marked F in the figure, is the princi-
pal focus of the mirror ; that is to say, the
principal focus is the focus of parallel rays.
The distance between the surface of the mir-
ror and its principal focus is called the focal
distance.
In optics, the position of an object and of
its image are always exchangeable. If a lumi-
nous point be placed in the principal focus,
the rays from it will, after reflection, be par-
allel. If the point be placed anywhere between
the principal focus and the centre 0, the ray«
168
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
after reflection will cut the axis at some point
beyond the centre. If the point be placed
between the principal focus F and the mirror,
the rays after reflection will be divergent —
they will not intersect at all — there will be no
real focus. But if these divergent rays be
produced backwards, they will intersect
behind the mirror, and form there what is
called a virtual or imaginary focus.
o-
ANSWEBS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A. F. T. — There is no fixed place for the
compensation on the pendulum described on
page 112, Vol. II., Hoeological Journal.
The object of the set screw in the collet C is
to allow tbe compensation to be placed in
such a position on the rod as may be found
proper by experiments; and the nuts travers-
ing the rods B are used to adjust it more
accurately than can be done by moving the
collet. Fasten the collet at about one-third
tbe length of the rod from the lower end and
try it in tbe clock ; if the clock gains as the
temperature decreases, lower the compensa-
tion ball, or raise it if tbe clock loses. Be
careful to alter it according to the rate of the
clock ; if the rate is large alter it by using the
set screw in the collet, but if the rate is small
use the nuts on the rods.
AMERICAN IIOHOLOGrlCAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
•G.^B. MILLER,
!i:i'J Broadway, JV. F.,
At $'2.50 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
rvith the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
received.
j&tsg~ Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box G715, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For January, 1871.
Su.
M.
Tu
W.
Th.
I'ri
Sat
Su.
M..
Tu.
W.
Th.
Ii-I
Sat
Su.
M..
Tu.
W.
Th.
Fri.
Sal
Su.
M..
Tu.
W.
Th.
Fri.
Sal
Su.
M.
To.
Day
of
Mon.
Sidereal
Time
of
the Semi-
diameter
Passing
the
Meridian.
Equation
of
Time to be
Added to
Apparent
Time.
8.
71.09
71.04
70.99
70 94
70.88
70.82
70.75
70.68
70.61
70.54
70.46
70.38
70.30
70.21
70.12
70.02
69 92
69.82
69.72
69.62
69 52
69.41
69 30
69.19
69.08
68.97
68.86
68 75
68.63
68.51
6* 40
3 44.73
4 12.92
4 40 74
5 8.17
5 35.18
6 1.73
6 27.81
6 53.42
7 18.52
7 43.07
8 7.06
8 30.49
8 53.32
9 15.52
9 37.09
9 58.03
10 18.27
10 37.81
10 56.64
11 14.74
11 32.08
11 48.66
12 4.47
12 19.48
12 33.68
12 47.06
12 59.61
13 11 33
13 22.20
13 32.24
13 41.44
Equation
of
Time to be
Subtracted
from
Mean Time.
Sidereal
Time
Diff.
or
for
Right
One
Ascension
Hour.
of
Mean Sun.
44 65
12.83
40.65
8.07
35 08
1.62
27.70
53.30
18.40
42.94
8 6.93
8 30.35
8 53.18
9 15 38
9 36.95
9 57.89
10 18.13
10 37.67
10 56.50
11 14.60
11 31 94
11 48 52
12 4.34
12 19.35
12 33.56
12 46.94
12 59.49
13 11.22
13 22.10
13 32.15
13 41.35
1.182
1.167
1.151
1.134
1.116
1.097
1.077
1.057
1.035
1.012
0.988
0.964
0.939
0.913
0.886
0.858
0.829
0.800
0 771
0.740
0.708
0.676
0.643
0.610
0.576
0.541
0.506
0.471
0.436
0.401
0.366
H. M. S.
18 42 46.98
18 46 43.54
18 50 40.10
18 "54 36.66
18 58 33.21
19 2 29.77
19 6 26.33
19 10 22.89
19 14 19.44
19 18 16.00
19 22 12.56
19 26 9.12
19 30 5.67
19 34 2.23
19 37 58.79
19 41 55.34
19 45 51.90
19 49 48.46
19 53 45.02
19 57 41.57
20 138.13
20 5 34.69
20 9 31.24
20 13 27.80
20 17 24.35
20 21 20.91
20 25 17.47
20 29 14.02
20 33 10.58
20 37 7.13
20 41 3.69
CHARLES SPIRO,
3R!atrIi mul (Shnmamrtw Pate,
No. _33 John Street,
Corner Nassau, NEW Y0BK.
Hair Springe, Jewela and Wheels Made to Order.
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.19 s. from tbe sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may bo assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. H. M.
© Full Moon 6 9 23.6
( Last Quarter 13 18 57.0
O New Moon 20 12 318
) FirstQuarter 28 1 14.4
D.. H.
( Apogee 1 16.5
( Perigee t. . 17 18 2
( Apogee. 19 12.0
O I II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 . 1
H. m. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 572
Hudson, Ohio .. _ 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT
APPARENT
MERID.
R. ASCENSION.
DECLINATION.
PASSAGE.
D.
H. M. S.
o ' 1
H. M.
1
19 12 0.90..
..-23 20 30.3..
... 0 29.3
Jupiter.. .
. 1
5 11 58.57..
.. + 22 33 6.6..
...10 27.3
Saturn. .
. 1
18 8 56.13..
.. -22 36 49.7..
...23 22.8
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal.
Vol. H.
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1871.
No. 8.
CONTENTS.
The Pendulum, 169
Heat, 175
Measuring Haiti-Springs 179
Abstract of Rates of Chronometers, . . . 180
Meials and Allots, 184
Hints to Repairers 186
Light, i ..... .188
Answers to Correspondents, 191
Equation of Time Table, 192
* t * Address all communications for Horological
Journal io G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Room 19.
Sg§~ The second instalment of Mr. Gross-
mann's essay failed to reach us in time for
this number. Of course, at this season of the
year, ocean steamers are liable to delays, and
we must accept the inevitable with the best
grace possible. Probably before the close of
the month we shall receive the entire work,
and then there will be no further interrup-
tions.
In the present number we also commence
an original essay on the Pendulum as applied
to the Measurement of Time, to which we
invite the careful attention of our readers.
In the series of articles on Heat, which will
be closed in the April issue, will be collected
a mass of facts which will prove of value to
every workman, no matter what his experi-
ence may have been.
Having given some extracts from Prof.
Tyndall's lecture on Light, bringing the sub-
ject down to the consideration of lenses, next
month we shall describe the method of grind-
ing, as practised in this country, together
with some remarks on the proper selection of
lenses for the eye. Several " Answers " are
crowded out this month. In reply to a query
from A. F. T., we propose to give an article
on Pinions in a short time.
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, In the
office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
THE PENDULUM
AS APPLIED TO THE
MEASUREMENT OF TIME.
NUMBER ONE.
INTRODUCTION TERRESTRIAL GRAVITY.
Of the many machines or instruments of
precision that are in general use for private
or for public purposes, there are probably
none where so much misconception exists, or
lack of knowledge of first principles is dis-
played, as in those instruments commonly
constructed for the measurement of time;
and all those acquainted with the subject, and
who have had an opportunity of observing,
can confirm that this misconception or ignor-
ance is not confined to the general public,
but is developed in a large degree throughout
the trade, or among those tradesmen whose
business it is to repair or sell such instru-
ments. If we take the subject of the pen-
dulum for instance, it is surprising how
many there are who, in the exercise of their
inventive faculties to provide a means of over-
coming the difficult question of compensation,
exhibit so much want of fundamental knowl-
edge of the subject, and often create greater
errors than they suppose to have cured. The
periodical literature of the day frequently
contains diagrams and correspondence on the
question which abundantly prove this asset
tion.
Perhaps, on the part of the workmen, this
may be in some measure a result of the grow-
ing tendency of the age to Concentrate special
manufactures in certain localities, and also to
the extensive system of subdividing labor,
now generally adopted ; although productive
of such good results, unquestionably it \ laces
the young watch and clock makers under
greater difficulties to find suitable opportu-
170
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
nities ,to master all the intricacies of their
profession than was experienced a generation
ago.
The scientific, or, more correctly, the
pseudo-scientific world is also teeming with
misconceptions on this subject. In a work
newly published on the chemical forces, the
author, talking about the Harrison pendulum,
says: "This pendulum gained the reward of
£20,000, offered by the British Government
for a pendulum that did not lose more than
the fraction of a second in a year, and enabled
the longitude to be determined within thirty
miles." It is seldom one sees so many false
ideas condensed into so few lines. Probably
this statement had its origin in the fact that
about the end of the last century Mr. Harris-
son received such a reward for a portable
time-keeper that could be used on shipboard
for the purpose of finding a ship's longitude
on the ocean to within thirty miles; but a time-
keeper that would not vary more than the frac-
tion of a second in a year would enable the
longitude to be determined at any time to the
small fraction of a mile instead of thirty miles.
Our nautical friends would find a pendulum
ill suited for finding longitude at sea, and if
writers on any subject connected with chem-
ical forces, or chemical physics, and many
other persons besides, were less credulous,
and reflected a little, they have ability enough
noon to discover that such a result was at that
time, and even at the present day, altogether
beyond the power of human skill to accom-
plish. » In order thet such a result should be
reached, the pendulum — assuming it to be a
seconds one — would require to vibrate pre-
cisely 31,535,099 and a fraction times in 365
days; and the fraction of a second that is lost
must be subtracted in an equal ratio from the
31,536,000 seconds that make up the year,
regularly and in equal proportion, from sec-
ond to second, from hour to hour, and from
day to day, during the 365 days that consti-
tute our year, and that, too, amidst all the
physical changes that are continually going
on within and around the clock, although it
may be placed in the best situation possible
to be obtained.
Time-keepers may be considered to consist
of two distinct orders. Those that are port-
able, like watches, for example, that have
their motion imparted to them by a spring,
and regulated by a balance and spring, or, as
it were, impelled and regulated by an opposi-
tion of artificial forces; and those that are
stationary, like clocks, and are propelled by
weights, and regulated by the oscillations of a
pendulum, or, in fact, regulated by the natural
force of gravitation. To this question of meas-
uring time by the natural force of gravitation,
we propose to devote our attention, and in-
vestigate the many questions that bear upon
the subject, from the simple or ideal pendulum
to the compound and Compensated one, and
the difficulties to be overcome in obtaining a
perfect compensation. Although a pendulous
body, by the isochronism of its oscillations,
furnishes a means of dividing time into equal
portions, it could obviously be of little use
until some method was devised of continuing
the motion of the pendulum, and registrating
the number of its vibrations. This mechan-
ism, technically known as the escapement, we
propose also to consider in the relation it
bears to the pendulum itself, and illustrate
the effects that the various forms of escape-
ments have on the isochronal properties of the
pendulum, and point out where their action
in some cases partly serves for compensation
in a plain pendulum, and in other cases tends
to make the question of adjusting a compen-
sated one a matter of contradiction and diffi-
culty. Although it be our object to discuss
fully the intricate questions connected with
the highest class of clock-work, we will omit,
at least for the present, taking any notice of
the various systems of striking the hours, or
the multitudinous automatic contrivances
sometimes attached to clocks for various pur-
poses, which, although they often show great
ingenuity of construction, bear no relation to
the principle that governs the motion of the
clock itself, but in all cases tend to destroy
the accuracy of its performance, except where
Bond's escapement is used.
The pendulum is a most important instru-
ment to the scientific world. It is applied to
determine the relative force of gravity at
different points on the earth's surface, and to
determine its shape. It is also from the
pendulum that the British standard yard
measure is deduced ; but its most important
application has been to the measurement of
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
171
time. It is a question of some doubt as to
who was the exact individual that first con-
ceived the idea to measure time by the oscil-
lations of a pendulum. The Italians claim
the honor for one of their countrymen, but
there are records to show that long before
the days of Galileo the ancient Asiatic
astronomers measured the duration of tran-
sits and eclipses by counting the vibrations
of a pendulum ; and to show that this was
practicable, we notice that in modern times
European and American astronomers have
used pendulums in this manner for certain
temporary operations in the field. Prof.
Winloek, of Harvard College, Cambridge, had
a pendulum applied without any clock-work
attached to it, to break the circuit of the
electrical apparatus that was fitted up in
Kentucky to observe the duration of the total
eclipse of the sun that was visible in some
parts of North America in 1869 ; and. if we
are not mistaken, the same was used by the
party sent to Spain by the United States
Government, to observe the total eclipse of
the sun lately seen from the south of Europe.
Galileo was the first who formally an-
nounced, in his work on mechanics and mo-
tion, which was published in the year 1639.
the isochronal property of oscillating bodits
suspended by strings of the same length ;
and it has been said that he actually applied
a pendulum to a clock, for the purpose ol
observing eclipses and determining longi-
tudes ; but as there is no proof existing to
corroborate the assertion, the fact may be
considered doubtful. Sanctorius, in his Com-
mentary on Avicenna, describes an instrument
to which he had applied a pendulum in 1612.
Richard Harris is said to have constructed,
in 1611, a pendulum clock in London for St.
Paul's Church, Covent Garden. Vincenzo
Galilei, a son of Galileo, is stated, on the
authority of the Academy del Cimenlo, to have
applied the pendulum in 1649. It was ap-
plied by Huyghens in 1656, and by Hooke, for
whom the invention has been claimed, about
1670. But to whomsoever the merit may
belong of having first made the application,
Huyghens is unquestionably the first that, in
his Hbrologium Oscillatoreum, explained the
theory of the pendulum ; and on this ac-
count, perhaps, the invention of the pen-
dulum clock has been usually ascribed to
him. After demonstrating the true theory of
the pendulum, Huyghens's next object was
to devise a means of causing a pendulum
to vibrate in such a manner that its centre
of oscillation would describe the arc of a
C3rcloid. The diagram before us exhibits a
cycloidal and a circular curve, and the point
to the right represents the centre of oscilla-
tion of an imaginary pendulum. The re-
sult Huyghens sought was, that, after this
point had passed the perpendicular line, it
should be gradually raised up in a certain
degree as it ascended the circular curve ; yet
although this cycloidal curve is the true
curvo a simple pendulum should describe in
its oscillations, to make them isochronous it
it has been found impossible to carry it out
in practice with any beneficial result.
Many of our readers will have noticed old
clocks, mostly in buhl cases and of French
construction, having the verge and crown
wheel escapement, and a
very light pendulum sus-
pended from a thread ; on
each side of which thread
are placed two pieces of
curved brass, which repre-
sent part of the evolute of
a cycloid. As the pendulum
moves, the thread touches
the brass curves and raises
the ball, or, in fact, it raises
the whole of the pendulum
up, and approximately causes the ce ^tre of
oscillation to describe a cycloid. This was
the plan by which Huyghens sought to obvi-
ate one of the irregularities in clocks having
large vibrations ; still, the varying impulse
the pendulum receives on its descent, im-
parted to it from the crown wheel through
the verge, and the variation of resistance it
has to encounter from the recoil of the crown
wheel on its ascent, makes the cycloidal curve
of no practical value could it be carried out,
172
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
and it is now abandoned by all men of ex-
perience.
The pendulums of all clocks of modern con-
struction do not vibrate in an arc large
enough to show any perceptible difference
between the circular and cycloidal curve; yet
we sometimes meet with a certain class of
tradesmen whose knowledge of their business
amounts to nothing more than a foggy super-
stition, and who are possessed of many secrets
they carefully treasure up, pretend to adjust
a pendulum and make it isochronal by manip-
ulating the pendulum spring, or causing it to
work between two curves of a peculiar shape,
and which is nothing more than attempting
to put in practice what Huyghens abandon-
ed 200 years ago ; and Huyghens himself
shows that the error of the hundredth of an
inch in the form of the cycloidal curve
described by the pendulum ball, causes
greater irregularity than if the pendulum de-
scribed an arc of 10° or 12° on each side of
the point of rest, in a circle.
As we go deeper into our subject, we shall
demonstrate the causes of irregularity in the
higher class of clocks, whether these irregu-
larities arise from the varying influences of
the mechanism or escapement on the pendu-
lum, or from heat, cold, the varying pressure
of the atmosphere, magnetic influences, or
other causes. Some of these we may propose
a means of obviating, and those that we can-
not get rid of, we shall, on the principle of
" what kills also cures," try to use for the
purpose of obtaining the desired end.
Although we have stated that the cycloid,
f o far as it relates to the pendulum, has been
discarded in practical horology, nevertheless
a knowledge of this curve, and also of the
inclined plane, and the laws that govern fall-
ing bodies, is requisite in order fully to un-
derstand the question before us, and previous
to going into the practical part of our sub-
ject, we shall briefly, and in plain language,
describe the various phenomena connected
with each of these subjects.
Terrestrial Gravity. — Universal experience
demonstrates that all heavy bodies, when un-
supported, fall towards the surface of the
earth. The direction of their motion may be
ascertained by a plumb line, and it is found to
be always perpendicular to the level surface
of the earth, or, more correctly, the surface of
stagnant water. But the earth is very nearly
spherical, and a line perpendicular to the
surface of a sphere must pass through its
centre; hence the direction of a body moving,
in consequence of the force of terrestrial grav-
ity, is toward the centre of the earth.
As the attraction of the earth acts equally
and independently on all the particles com-
posing a body, it is clear that they must all
fall with equal velocities. It makes no differ-
ence whether the several particles fall singly,
or whether they fall compactly together in
the form of a large or a small body. If ten
or a hundred leaden balls be disengaged to-
gether, they will fall at the same time, and if
they be moulded into one ball of great mag-
nituele, it will still fall in the same time.
Hence, all bodies under the influence of grav-
ity alone, must fall with equal velocities.
Previous to the time of Galileo, philoso-
phers maintained that the velocity of a falling
body was in proportion to its weight ; and
that if two bodies of unequal weights were let
fall from an elevation at He sime moment,
the heavier would reach the ground as much
sooner than the lighter as its weight exceeded
it. In other words, a body weighing two
pounds would fall in half the time that would
be requrred by a body weighing one pound.
Galileo, on the contrary, asserted that the
velocity of a falling body is independent of
its weight and not affected by it. The dis-
pute running high, and the opinion of the
public being generally averse to the views of
Galileo, he challenged his opponents to test
the matter by public experiment. The chal-
lenge was accepted, and the celebrated lean-
ing tower of Pisa agreed upon as the place of
trial. In the presence of a large concourse of
citizens, two balls were selected, one having
exactly twice the weight of the other. The
two were then dropped from the summit of
the tower at the same moment, and, in exact
accordance with the assertions of Galileo,
they both struck the ground at the same
instant.
As all bodies, when left without support,
fall from all heights to which they may be
carried, it may be inferred that gravity acts
upon them during the whole time of their
descent, and is therefore a regularly acceler-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
173
ating force. This might also be inferred
from the fact, which is easily rendered sensi-
ble, that bodies which fall from a greater
height arrive at the earth with a greater
velocity. If we let an apple fall from off a
table on the floor, it will not be injured; but,
if we let the same apple fall from the top
window of a high house on to the pavement
beneath, the apple will be smashed to pieces.
But the best method of showing, experi-
mentally, that gravity is a uniformly acceler-
ating force, is by an apparatus known as
Atwood's machine. This consists of a pulley,
the axis of which turns on friction rollers,
and having a groove in its edge to receive a
string. Over the wheel a fine silken cord is
stretched, to the ends of which are attached
two equal weights, A
and B. In this state
the weights counter-
balance each other, and
no motion ensues; but
if we add the small
weight C to the weight
B, so as to give it a pre-
ponderance, the loaded
weight will immediately
begin to descend. The
motion which now takes
place is exactly of the
same kind with that of
a body descending
freely ; and by this
method, the properties
of uniformly accelerated motion are experi-
mently shown to hold true in the descent of
falling bodies. If the additional load be such
as will carry the weight to which C is added
through a space of one foot in the first
second of time, it will carry it through four
feet in two seconds, through nine in three
seconds, and so on. A proof is therefore af-
forded by this means that terrestrial gravity
is a uniformly accelerating force.
There are some familiar facts which seem
to be opposed to this law. When we let go a
feather, and a mass of lead, the one floats in
the air, and the other falls to the ground very
rapidly. But in this case, the operation of
gravity is modified by the resistance of the
air: the feather floats because the air opposes
its descent, and it cannot overcome the . re-
sistance offered. But if we place a mass of
lead and a feather in the exhausted receiver
of an air-pump, and liberate them at the same
instant, they will fall in equal periods of time.
Having ascertained the law according to
which gravity acts on bodies, the next ques-
tion is to determine its absolute intensity, or
the velocity which it communicates to a body
falling freely in a given time. In the latitude
of the city of New York, a body falling from
a height will fall a small fraction less than 16
feet in the first second of time, three times
that distance in the second, five times in the
third, seven in the fourth; the spaces passed
over in each second increasing as the odd
numbers 1, 3, 5, 7,. 9, 11, etc. On account of
the rapidity of the descent of heavy bodies,
their velocity cannot be determined by direct
experiment; nor could Atwood's machine be
employed for the purpose with sufficient cer-
tainty. The only mode by which an accurate
result can be obtained is by measuring the
length of a pendulum which makes a certain
number of oscillations in a given time. Now
the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds
of mean solar time in New York, in vacuo,
and reduced to the level of the sea, has been
determined to be 39.10120 inches; and by a
system of mathematical reasoning, which at
present is unnecessary to be given, it is de-
duced from the length of this pendulum that
a body will fall about 16 feet during the first
second of its descent; which is somewhat less
than in London, and more than in Trinidad.
From experiments made with the greatest
care, it appears that the extreme amount of
variation in the gravitating force between the
equator and the poles is one part in 194 of the
whole quantity; that is to say, any body
which, at the equator, weighs 194 pounds, if
transported to the poles would weigh 195
pounds. The difference of gravitation, there-
fore, at the equator and the poles is expressed
by the fraction l-194th.
The following table we have prepared to
show the direct influence the varying force of
gravity has on pendulums designed to vibrate
seconds at the level of the sea, at various
points along the Atlantic coast of America,
and from the equator to 45° north, which is the
highest latitude populous cities have yet been
built on this continent. The measurement is
174
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
to the nearest hundredth of an inch, which is
near enough for the clockmaker's purpose
previous to his making the final adjustments.
This table may be interesting and useful to
our readers residing in any of the places
mentioned, or in those of corresponding lati-
tudes. In localities slightly above the level
of the sea there will be no perceptible varia-
tion from the table ; but in very high eleva-
tions an allowance must be made for the
variation of the force of gravity above the
level of the sea. Capt. Kater's experiments,
determining the length of a seconds pendulum
in the latitude of London to be 39.13929, is
the basis on which the table has been con-
structed.
Month of the Amazon river, Brazil 39 01 inches.
Trinidad, West Indies 39.02 "
Southern part of Cuba 39.01 "
Havana, Cuba 39.05 "
New Orleans 39 07 "
Cape Hatteras 39,0S "
New York City 3.1. 10 "
Montreal 39. 12 "
The difference in the length of a pendulum
vibrating seconds at the level of the sea in
any part of the United States, from the most
southern part of Louisiana to the northern
boundary of Minnesota, is not more than the
.97 of an inch. Yet the result of even that
slight difference will show a marked change
on the rate of the pendulum, when we come
to consider that part of the subject.
Inclined Plane. — There are two properties
connected with the motion of bodies on in-
clined planes, which we must notice. The
first is, that the velocity acquired by a body in
descending from any elevation to a horizontal
plane, is the same when it reaches the horizon-
tal plane, whether falling freely in the vertical,
or moving along an inclined plane at any angle
of elevation. The second is, that the times of
descent through all chords of the same circle to
the lowest point, are equal, and equal to the
time the body would take to fall through a
height equal to the diameter of the circle.
■ Thus : Let A B be the diameter
of a circle, and C B, DB, and
E B, chords of a circle. The
time a heavy body would con-
sume in falling vertically through
the diameter is the same as that
in which it would roll down the
incline plane C B, D B. or E B — in other words,
bodies placed at A, C, D, and E, and aban-
doned at the same instant to the action of
gravity, would arrive at B at the same time.
In these proportions it is supposed, of course,
that there is no resistance from friction.
Cycloid. — -If a circle roll along a straight
line, any point in the plane of the circle will
generate a curve which is called a cycloid.
Thus, if we take the straight line A B, and
the circle C D, and roll the circle backwards
and forwards along the straight line A B, a
point in the edge of the circle C D will de-
scribe the cycloidal curve E C F. To be
more familiar, a wheel with a point projecting
from the side of it at the extreme edge, if
rolled along a work-bench, the projecting
point will describe a cycloidal curve on the
wall. This curve has many curious and val-
uable properties. The line A B is called the
base of the cycloid, and is equal to the cir-
cumference of the generating circle C D, and
the distance from C to E is the distance the
point of suspension of a pendulum ought to
be to fit into the cycloid. If a heavy body
descend by the force of gravity in an inverted
cycloid, the velocity which it acquires is
exactly proportionable to the length of the
cycloidal arcs PPD; so that, from whatever
point, P P, it may begin to fall, it will arrive
at the lowest point, D, in precisely the same
time. If a body has to descend by the force
of gravity from the point A to another point*
D, not in the same vertical, it will accomplish
the passage in less time by describing the
cycloid A P P D than by moving in the
straight line A D, or in any other path what-
ever.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
175
HEAT.
NUMBER SIX.
STEEL ITS MODES OF MANUFACTURE CAST STEEL
INDIAN WOOTZ — ANNEALING METALS — ANNEAL-
ING STEEL ENGRAVERS' PLATES, GOLD, SILVER,
BRASS, ETC., WITHOUT CHANGE OF COLOR
THEORY OF ANNEALING.
We have now arrived at the point to con-
sider the practical application and effects of
heat in the multitudinous processes required
in connection with the different branches of
our various professions.
The art of annealing, hardening, and tem-
pering steel, constitutes, probably, one of the
most delicate, curious, and useful branches
connected with the mechanic arts. At first
sight it appears sufficiently simple when, by
heating a piece of steel to redness, and plung-
ing it into cold water, it becomes hard ; on a
closer inspection, however, the mind will
soon discover that many operations and con-
trivances require to be carried into effect by
the operator in order to become efficient in
the art, or be distinguished for skill and
promptitude in execution. A slight knowl-
edge of the processes will also discover that
a certain amount of patient perseverance is
required — an amount of which few who have
been brought up at the desk, or behind the
counter, can form the slightest idea. But we
have not set out with the object to discourage
the young practitioner, but rather to encour-
age, and smooth for him the'path many have
found so rough, but which we have always
endeavored to explore without entertaining a
sentiment of its hardship; and we would
advise all young men who are just starting in
life to go and do likewise.
Steel is a compound of iron and carbon —
sometimes formed from wrought iron by
heating the wrrought iron in contact with car-
bon, and sometimes formed from cast iron by
depriving the cast iron of all impurities, ex-
cept a small portion of carbon. The propor-
tions of iron and carbon vary in the different
qualities of steel; but in that ordinarily used
the carbon rarely exceeds two per cent., and
for some purposes it is as low as one per
cent. Good ordinary tool steel contains about
one and a-half per cent, of carbon. Previous
to the introduction of Mr. Bessemer's method
of producing steel direct from the cast iron
without the intermediate operation of render-
ing it malleable, the most common mode of
manufacturing steel was by the process called
cementation. The furnace in which iron is
cemented and converted into steel has the
form of a large oven, constructed so as to
form in the interior of the oven two large and
long cases, commonly called troughs or pots,
and built of good fire-stone or fire-brick.
Into each of these pots layers of the purest
malleable iron bars and layers of powdered
charcoal are packed horizontally, one upon
the other, to a proper height and quantity,
according to the size of the pots, leaving room
every way in the pots for the expansion of the
metal when it becomes heated. A hole is left
in the end of one *of the pots, and three or
four bars are left in such a manner that they
can be drawn out at any period of the pro-
cess and examined. After the packing of
the pots is completed, the tops are covered
with a bed of sand or clay in order to confine
the carbon and exclude the atmospheric air.
All the open spaces of the furnace are then
closed, the fire is kindled, and the flame passes
between, under, and around these pots on
every side, and the whole is raised to a con-
siderable intensity of heat, which is kept up
for eight or ten days, according to the degree
of hardness required. On the fifth or sixth
day a test bar is drawn out of the converting
pot for the purpose of judging whether the
iron is at its proper heat, and to test the pro-
gress of the carbonization. At this period of
the process the film of iron is generally dis-
tinguished in the centre of the bar, and the
fire is generally kept up for a day or two
longer in order that the iron may absorb
more carbon. If, again, upon the trial of a
bar, the cementation has extended to the
centre, or, in other words, if the bars of iron
have absorbed the carbonaceous principle to
their innermost centre, the whole substance
is converted into steel, and the work is com-
plete. By this process carbon, probably in
the state of vapor, penetrates and combines
with the iron, which is thus converted into
steel.
Iron prepared by this process is called
blistered steel; and when bars of blistered
steel are heated, and drawn out into smaller
176
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
bars by means of the hammer, it acquires the
name of tilted steel. Spring steel is the blis-
ter steel simply heated and rolled; and Ger-
man or shear steel is produced by cutting the
bars of blistered steel into convenient
lengths, and piling and welding them to-
gether by means of a steam hammer. The bars,
after being welded and drawn out, are again
cut to convenient lengths, piled and welded,
and again drawn out into bars. It is then called
double shear steel, according to the extent
of the process of conversion. Shear steel
breaks with a finer fracture, is tougher, and
capable of receiving a finer and firmer edge
and a higher polish than blister or spring
steel, and when well prepared is not much
inferior to cast steel. Shear steel is very
extensively used for those kinds of tools
and pieces of work composed of steel and
iron.
Cast steel is made from fragments of the
blister steel of the steel works. The process
is nearly a hundred years old, but it still
remains in principle unaltered. This method
is to take the blister steel, converted into a
certain degree of hardness, break it into
pieces of convenient length, and place it in
crucibles made of the most refractory fire
clay, which are placed in furnaces similar to
those used by brass founders. The furnaces
are furnished with covers and chimney to
increase the draught of air, and the crucibles
are furnished with lids of clay to exclude the
atmospheric air. The furnaces containing
the crucibles are filled with coke, and for the
perfect fusion of the steel, the most intense
heat is kept up for two or three hours. When
the steel is thoroughly melted it is poured
into ingot moulds of the shape and size re-
quired, and the ingots of steel, once only
crude iron, but changed by chemical action
into cast steel, are taken to the forge or roll-
ing mill and prepared for the market into
bars or plates, as may be required. Cast
steel is the most uniform in quality, the hard-
est and most reliable steel for cutting tools
and all delicate mechanism.
"What is termed Peruvian or Indian steel
has for its base a material known in com-
merce as uxtotz. It is manufactured, and is
marketable throughout the East Indies as a
metal suited to the production of cutting in-
struments of a superior quality, but of which
metal the method of manufacture remains
but imperfectly known to European and
American workmen. The Indian account of
wootz-making is the following: "Pieces of
forged iron are enclosed in a crucible with
wood, and heated together in a furnace; the
fire is urged by three or more bellows pecu-
liar to the country, and thus the wood is
charred, the iron fused, and at the same time
converted into steel. The metal is suffered
to crystallize in the crucible, and in this state
it is exported." When wootz is submitted to
a second and more perfect fusion, it improves
so much as scarcely to be recognized; it is fit
for the finest of purposes, and is said to be
infinitely superior to the best English cast
steel, but whether the superior properties
arise from the mode of manufacture, or from
the materials used, we are unable to say.
Almost every one has heard of the famous
Damascus steel; though in fact, little besides
the name, and a vague notion that it is made
in some parts of the Levant, appears to be
known about it. Some authors assert that it
comes from Golconda, in the East Indies,
where, they add, a method of tempering
with alum, which the Europeans have hither-
to been unable to imitate, was invented. It
is moreover asserted that the 1 eal Damascus
blades emit a fragrant odor on being bent,
and while they bent like a switch, were of so
stern a temper that they would cut through
iron without injury to the edge. The com-
position of the material formerly so cele-
brated as the steel of Damascus has given
rise to many investigations with a view to
imitate it, but as yet with only partial suc-
cess. Silver, platinum, rhodium, gold, nickel,
copper, and even tin, have an affinity for
steel sufficiently strong to make them com-
bine chemically with it, and they have all
been used as an alloy for various special pur-
poses, which our limits prevent us for the
present from describing.
Annealing is a process used in the manufac-
ture of metals, and also in glass-making. In
glass-making it consists in placing the ar-
ticles, whilst hot, in a kind of oven or furnace,
where they are suffered to cool gradually.
They would otherwise be too brittle for use.
The difference between annealed and unan-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
177
nealed glass, with respect to brittleness, is
very remarkable.
When an unannealed glass vessel is
broken, it often flies into small pieces, -with
a violence seemingly very unproportioned to
the stroke it has received. In general it is
in greater danger of breaking from a vex*y
slight stroke than from one of very consider-
able force. A vessel will often resist the
effects of a pistol bullet dropt into it from
the height of three or four feet, yet a grain
of sand falling into it will make it burst into
small fragments. This takes place sometimes
immediately on dropping the sand into it;
but often the vessel will stand for several
minutes after, seemingly secure, and then,
without any new injury, it will fly into pieces.
If the vessel be very thin, it does not break
in this manner, but seems to possess all the
properties of annealed glass. Glass is one
of those bodies which increase in bulk when
passing from a fluid to a solid state. When
it is allowed to cxwstallize regularly, the par-
ticles are so arranged that it has a fibrous
texture. It is elastic, and susceptible of long
continued vibrations; but when a mass of
melted glass is suddenly exposed to the cold,
the surface crystallizes and forms a solid
shell round the interior fluid parts. This
prevents them from expanding when they be-
come solid, and therefore they have not the
opportunity of a regular crystallization, but
are compressed together with little mutual
cohesion; on the contrary they press outward
to occupy more space, but are prevented by
the external crust. By the process of anneal-
ing, glass is kept for some time in a state ap-
proaching to fluidity; the heat increases the
bulk of the crystallized part, and renders it
so soft that the internal parts have the oppor-
tunity of expanding and forming a regular
crystallization.
In the manufactures in which the malleable
metals are employed, annealing is used to
soften a metal after it has been rendered hard
by the hammer, and also to soften cast iron,
which is rendered very hard and brittle by
rapid cooling. In the manufacture of steel
articles which are formed by the hammer, and
require to be filed or otherwise treated, and
in which softness and flexibility are essential
to the change, annealing is absolutely neces-
sary. Annealing is not less necessary in the
drawing of wire, whether iron, copper, brass,
silver, or gold. The operation of draw ng
soon gives the wire a degree of hardness and
elasticity which, if not removed from time to
time by annealing, would prevent the exten-
sion of the wire, and render it extremely
brittle; and the same operation is also neces-
sary in rolling or flattening those metals
which are in a cold state, such as brass, silver,
gold, etc. The methods often employed for
annealiug iron and steel are very injurious,
and materially injure the latter when it is to
be used for any important or delicate pur-
pose. After the articles have been formed
into shape they are sometimes placed on an
open fire, slowly raised to a red heat, and
then allowed as gradually to cool. By this
method the surface of the steel will be found
considerably scaled, from the action of the
oxygen of the atmosphere. When it is re-
membered that steel consists of iron joined
to carbon, it will be evident that the steel
immediately under the scaly oxide will be de-
prived of its carbon, which has been carried
off by the attraction of the oxygen, and in
consequence will lose the property of ac-
quiring that degree of hardness necessary.
Nothing, therefore, can be more obvious than
that steel should be annealed in close vessels,
to prevent that effect. For this purpose the
pieces should be in a trough or recess made
of soap-stone or fire-brick, and stratified with
ashes or clean sand, and finally covered with
a thick covering of the same; but if the size
of the vessel be small it may be covered with
its own materials.
This oven or trough must now be heated
by the flame of a furnace passing under and
around it, till the whole is of a red heat, and
then it must be suffered to cool without letting
in the air. The articles so treated will be
much softer than by the other method, and
the surface, instead of becoming scaled, will
have acquired a metallic whiteness from the
presence of a quantity of carbonaceous mat-
ter contained in the ashes in which they were
imbedded. They will become so flexible, also,
as to allow them to bend considerably with-
out breaking, which is very far from being
the case before the operation.
Wire, especially that of iron and steel,
178
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
should be treated in a similar way when it is
annealed. The wire used for some purposes
requires to be soft, and is sold in that state.
If the wire, after finishing, when it is bright
and clean, were to be annealed in contact
with oxygen, it would not only lose all its
lustre and smoothness, but much of its ten-
acity. The process above mentioned will
therefore be particularly necessary in anneal-
ing finished wire, as well as softening it from
time to time during the drawing. Copper
and brass suffer much less than ii-on and
steel from annealing in an open fire, and they
do not require to be heated above a low red
heat ; if, however, the lustre is to be preserved
a dote vessel is desirable.
In casting minute pieces of pig iron, which
is generally done in damp sand, the metal
possesses the property of steel to such a degree
as to assume, by its rapid cooling, a degree
of hardness equal to hardened steel ; at the
same time the articles are so brittle as to
break on falling on the ground. When, how-
ever, these goods are treated in the way
above directed, they acquire a degree of soft-
ness which renders them penetrable to the
file, and at the same time capable of bending.
In this state they are much less tenacious
than steel, but still so much so as sometimes
to be sold in the form of cutlery and other
household utensils.
Less than a certain amount of heat will fail
to make steel hard, but on the contrary will
soften it; and sometimes this effect is useful.
For instance, suppose a piece of steel is too
hard to be dressed by the file, or cut with the
turning tool, and time will not permit of its
being softened in a box with charcoal powder ;
the steel may be heated to a cherry red heat
in an open fire, then drawn out of the fire
and allowed to cool down till the red heat is
not visible by daylight, but can be seen in a
dark place behind the f^rge ; then to be
plunged at this heat into cold water, and
allowed to remain in the water until quite
cool. When taken out it will be found to be
much softer, and will yield to the file or the
turning tool readily. Instead of pure water,
some use a mixture of soap and water with
good results.
The change which metals undergo by an-
nealing is not yet thoroughly understood.
Most of the malleable metals are susceptible
of two distinct forms; one called the crystal-
line form, which they assume by slow cool-
ing, and the other the fibrous, which is
acquired by hammering or rolling. When
this, however, is carried beyond a certain
point, the metal becomes so hard that it is
not capable of being bent without breaking.
AD the malleable metals in the ingot, or in
their cast state, are brittle and exhibit a
crystalline fracture. By hammering or roll-
ing they become more tenacious, break with
difficulty, and exhibit what is called a fibrous
fracture. At the same time they become
stiffer and more elastic, but they lose the
latter properties by annealing, but become
more malleable.
If the annealing, however, be long con-
tinued the malleability diminishes, and they
have again a crystalline fracture. Zinc,
when drawn into wire, becomes very flexible,
and possesses a degree of tenacity not infe-
rior to that of copper; but if it be kept in
boiling water for a length of time it will as-
sume its original brittleness, and show a
crystalline appearance when broken. This
proves that the particles of metal can change
their arrangement without losing their solid
form; which is still further confirmed by the
fact that brass wire loses its tenacity by ex-
posure to the fumes of acids, and even by the
presence of a damp atmosphere. Those parts
of the brass work in a turret clock that have
been much exposed to an impure atmos-
phere will be found in the same condition, and
the manufacturers of common pins are
obliged to keep their wire in a dry atmos-
phere, or immersed in water. If the wire be
first moistened and then exposed to the air,
it will assume the brittle state much sooner.
This is not caused by the moisture, but by the
action of the air on the moistened surfaces.
The process of softening or decarbonizing
steel suitable for the steel engraver, has al-
ways been one of difficulty; and we will
conclude the subject of annealing by giving
the methods practised by two celebrated
British and American steel engravers. Mr.
Jacob Perkins, an ingenious New England
artist, conducted the decarbonizing process
by enclosing the plate of cast steel, properly
shaped, in a cast-iron box, filled about the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
170
plate to the thickness of about half an inch,
with oxide of iron, or rusty iron filings, and
in this state the box was luted close, and
placed in a regular fire, where it was kept at
a red heat during from three to twelve days.
Generally about nine days he found suffi-
cient to decarbonize a plate five-eighths of an
inch in thickness.
Mr. Charles Warren, a celebrated English
engraver, also enclosed his plates in a cast-
iron box, but covered them up with a mixture
of iron turnings and pounded oyster shells,
and placed the box for only a few hours in a
furnace as hot as it could be and not melt the
cast iron. But a Mr. Hughes, a pupil of Mr.
Warren's, found that the steel was not always
sufficiently and uniformly soft (particularly
for the purpose of engraving in mezzotinto),
and imagined that those occasional defects
were owing to a deficiency of heat in the
cementing process; accordingly, he substi-
tuted a case of refractory clay for the cast-iron
one, and, applying a considerable higher heat
than the cast-iron box would have endured
without melting, was enabled to obtain plates
so soft that they might be bent over the knee.
MEASURING HAIB-SPltlMS.
Editoe Hoeologicax, Jouenal :
I am inclined to find a little fault with Mr.
Rawson's idea for the measurement of the
strength of hair-springs. His use of the mi-
crometer for the purpose, I think, must give
results quite unreliable. In the first place,
no spring wire is homogeneous in its compo-
sition, and consequently cannot be uniform
in its temper. In the article on Heat, in the
same number, the practical impossibility of
getting a bar of metal entirely uniform in its
molecular constitution, is given as the reason
for the want of exact uniformity in the
result of the experiments there described.
The same unreliability must exist in spring
wire, and I cannot possibly conceive how
linear measurement can give any indication
of such a fault.
Secondly, the linear measurement of a
spring will be the same precisely, whether the
spring be soft-tempered or hard; but the
action as a spring depends eminently on these
i qualities. Thirdly, the effective force of a
i spiral is so modified by the closeness of the
j coils, as well as by the total length of the
spring, that any external measurement will
fail to give a very sure guide to its elastic
force. It is on this elastic force that watch,
springers depend for determining the proper
point at which the hair spring should be
pinned in the stud, to give the balance the
requisite number of vibrations per minute;-
fcr, by lengthening or shortening the spring, :
as held by the tweezers, and counting the
vibrations of the balances, this point can be
determined with great exactness.
This system of adjustment depends for its
success wholly on the elasticity of the spring
— not on its width or thickness; of course
these elements enter into and help to make
up that force, but the temper, which is also an
important ingredient, will most certainly elude
the measurement of even a microscopic mi-
crometer. For these reasons I think any in-
strument for determining this force should be
based in its principles upon the absolute
test of that quality in each individual spring.
For some time I have had in use one of
Bissell's Staking tools, and cannot refrain
from speaking of it with pleasure. It is very
well made, and admirably adapted to the
purpose. I think it can be used very conve-
niently as a tool for stretching the teeth of
wheels. The wheel, of course, cannot be cen-
tred by the pivots, but can be either from the
arbor or from the circle of the pinion leaves*
which will answer every purpose, as the
teeth are afterward rounded up in the round-
up tool with the pivots as centres. I think
Mr. Bissell, will make it more useful, if he can
afford to add to the number of punches, two
or three, for the purpose I have named ; or,
if that is too much, let him leave out the drill
stock, and give these punches in its place. I
think most workmen would prefer that
change. Altering the dep thing in the very
common jewelled Swiss watches must very
often be done or the watch will not even go.
And there is no ready way to do except to
enlarge or diminish the size of the wheels
which can speedily be done (and neatly) with
a stretching punch and a rounding-up took
R. Cowles.
Cleveland.
180
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ABSTRACT OF RATES OF CHRONOMETERS ON TRIAL
Nauh or Maker.
M. F. Dent
Chittenden
Reid and Sons
Lowry
Kingston
C. Frodsham
E. Dent & Co
Glover
McGregor & Co . . .
F. Fletcher
J. B. Fletcher
Shepherd & Son. . .
Parkinson & Bouts
Gowland ...
C . Frodsham
Lister & Sons ....
McGregor & Co . . .
Davison
Penlington
J . Fletcher
Roskell &Co
Dobbie
Hennessy
Reid & Sons
Weiehert
Shepherd & Son. . .
Webb
Lister & Sons
Eiffe
Eiffe, Jun
D. Reid
Webb
Whiffin
Eiffe
Gowland
Thicthener
No.
25334
779
1491
1656
5321
3345
3092
354
4173
2921
2969
1737
1147
2711
3364
635
4172
1671
1799
2679
j.7 aa.
b >» 7 :ti
4323
1613
1492
2215
1723
5550
636
5(52
100
1870
5552
350
299
1279
.Address of Makes.
33 Cockspnr street, London.
10 Wilton rd. , Hackney, Lond.
41 Grey street, Newcastle.
66 High street, Belfast.
13 High street, Ranisgate.
84 Strand, London.
61 Strand, London.
4 Swinton street London.
38 Clyde Place, Glasgow.
148 Leadenhall street, London
148 Leadenhall street, London.
53 Leadenhall street, London .
59 Gracechurch street, London .
178 High street, W. Sunderland
84 Strand, London .
12 Mosley street, Newcastle.
38 Clyde Place, Glasgow.
6 Side. Newcastle.
3 St. George's Crescent, Li verp.
148 Leadenhall street, London.
21 Church street, Liverpool .
24 Clyde Place, Glasgow.
5 Wind street. Swansea.
41 Grey street. Newcastle.
112 Rothsay Terrace, Cardiff.
53 Leadenhall street, London.
4 Pnlleu's Row, Islington.
12 Mosley street. Newcastle.
Arnershain, Buckinghamshire .
Amersham, Buckinghamshire .
41 Grey street, Newcastle.
4 Pulleu's Row, Islington.
41 Bamsbury road, London .
Amersham. Buckinghamshire.
178 High street, W. Sunderland
Construction or Balancb.
1000 324 Goswell road, London.
(No information received.)
Auxiliary as in former years .
Auxiliary acting in cold .
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary acting in cold.
(No information received . )
Dent's patent balance.
Auxiliary compensation.
Poole's auxiliary .
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary compensation.
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary to balance, acting in extremes .
Auxiliary compensation .
(No information received.)
Poole's auxiliary.
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary compensation balance.
Auxiliary compensation .
Kullberg's double rim balance, without auxiliary
Ordinary compound balance, Poole's auxiliary.
Auxiliary compensation .
Auxiliary acting in all temperatures.
Ordinary balance, with original auxiliary .
Auxiliary compensation.
Auxiliary acting in all temperatures .
Poole's auxiliary.
Improved application to the pendulum spring.
Patent balance: unassisted figure.
Auxiliary balance.
Auxiliary acting in all temperatures.
Auxiliary compensation.
Improved application to the pendulum spring.
Ordinary balance with auxiliary.
Double locking detent and bi-conical timing
spring; plain balance.
Thp sign 4- indicates that the rate is gaining.
f During these weeks the Chronometers wer:> placed in the chamber of a stove heated by jots of gas. The gas flames are exterior
to the chamber, into which none of the iaj irious products of combustion can entor.
F.ilTe 2^9 is ap cket Chronometer; EilTe 562 is an eight- lays; all the rest are two-days performers.
The ratings commenced January 15th, and ended August 6th, bj that the duration of the trials was 29 weeks.
"We present above a table called an
" Abstract of the principal changes of rates of
Chronometers on trial for purchase by the
Board of Admiralty, at the Royal Observa-
tory, Greenwich, 1870." In addition, we have
thought it would interest onr readers to give
some explanation of the nature of these trials,
the causes of the failures that disappoint so
many of the competitors, and a general review
of the trials of the last thirty years.
Th« test prescribed for these chronometers
is about as severe as well can be, and not
transcend the limits of reasonable require-
ment. The Board of Admiralty does not
require that chronometers purchased by them
shall be limited to any particular size, style,
or manner of construction, nor that they shall
possess any special property in their adjust-
ments. Uniformity of performance, being the
desired result of the various adjustments
bestowed on chronometers for the purpose of
producing time-keeping qualities, is alone the
qualification sought for, and the test admin-
istered in the Greenwich Observatory is well
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
181
AT TEE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH, 1870.
Least
Weekly
Sum.
In what Temperature.
Greatest
Weekly-
Sum.
In what Temperature.
Difference
between
the Greatest
and Least.
Greatest
Difference
between one
Week and
the next.
Extremes of
Temperature.
I
Degrees Fahrenheit.
f
Degrees Fahrenheit.
*
*
- 5.3
71 to 92f
+ 0.2
41 to 51
5.5
3.8
35-66
- 1.7
do.
+ 7.0
33 to 38
8.7
5 3
do.
- 13.0
67 to 77
+ 0.5
72 to 90f
12.5
5.1
63-87
- 9.5
62 to 69
+ 3.5
51 to 58
13.0
6.0
62-72
- 6.1
40 to 51
+ 7.1
68 to 72
13.2
6.5
43-73
+ 4.5
do.
+ 20.3
67 to 77
15.8
5.7
63-87
4- 6.1
63 to 84f
+ 21.8
35 to 48
15.1
6.3
55-84
- 17.6
38 to 43
- 1.1
56 to 69
16.5
5.8
48—35
- 13.5
85 to 95f
0.0
41 to 51
13.5
7.5
43-73
- 1.3
63 to 84f
+ 12.9
67 to 77
14.2
7.2
95-62
- 2.0
33 to 38
+ 15.8
51 to 58
17.8
5 8
48-33
- 13.5
55 to 73f
■H 2.4
69 to 87f
15.9
6.9
63-50
- 9.0
71 to 92f
+ 4.0
41 to 51
13.0
9.2
55-84
- 5.8
63 to 8lj
+ 7.0
51 to 58
12.8
9.4
35-66
- 6.5
33 to 38
+ 10.7
72 to 90f
17.2
7.5
76-96
- 21.3
52 to 63
- 7.7
68 to 72
13.6
9.3
92-52
- 16.5
56 to 71
- 0 5
72 to 90
16.0
8.8
63-90
- 1.0
33 to 38
-t-21.2
67 to 77
22.2
6.6
95-62
- 17.5
4U to 51
- 0.6
50 to 57
16.9
9.9
38-48
- 6.7
do.
+ 9.0
43 to 49
15.7
11.1
51-38
- 9.3
68 to 72
4- 9.3
71 to 92f
18.6
10.4
95-62
- 10.3
81 to 96f
+ 9.0
33 to 38
19.3
11.1
35-66
- 6.0
33 to 38
+ 12.5
67 to 77
18.5
11.6
63-87
- 2.7
40 to 51
+ 18.7
85 to 95f
2.1.4
11.7
95-62
- 4 5
33 to 38
+ 28.5
68 to 72
33.0
. 7.0
43-73
- 0.4
do.
+ 21.0
62 to 69
21.4
13.2
do.
- 28.9
68 to 75
- 5.8
35 to 48
23.1
13.5
92-52
- 23.0
43 to 51
- 0.2
68 to 77
22.8
16.5
43-73
- 28.0
71 to 92f
- 6.1
55 to 73f
21.9
17.0
71-92
- 42.5
33 to 38
- 14.8
62 to 69
27.7
14.2
95-62
- 12.7
43 to 51
+ 26.6
68 to 72
39.3
10.4
do.
- 26.4
56 to 69
+ 2.4
38 to 43
28.8
17.4
50-58
- 15.3
43 to 51
+ 33.6
68 to 72
48 9
12.1
43-73
- 24.0
33 to 38
+ 23.5
69 to 87 1
56 5
33.0
68-77
- 14.3
41 to 66
+ 44.0
85 to 95f
58.3
38.3
35-66
+ 6.6
72 to 90f
+ 72.2
68 to 72
65.6
37.3
48-33
The Chronometers are placed in order of m9rit, their respective positions being determined solely by consideration of the irregu-
larities of rate exhibited in the Table above.
The Chronometer Eiffe 299 (pocket) accidentally ran down on February 6 ; the rate for the week February 5 to 12 is therefore
wanting, and, consequently, the position of the Chronometer in the Tables is not necessarily correct.
calculated to develop any defect in this par-
ticular.
Chronometer makers or dealers are per-
mitted to deposit in the Greenwich Observ-
atory, in charge of the Astronomer Royal,
who is the sole arbiter in the decisions made,
each a limited number of marine time-keep-
ers on trial for purchase by the Board of Ad-
miralty. The trial usually begins early in Jan-
uary, and continues about twenty-nine weeks.
During the cold weather they are exposed to
the greatest degree of natural cold possible
in that climate ; at other times to medium
temperatures, while a portion of the period
they are placed in an oven in which the heat is
created artificially, but rarely exceeding 100°
Fahr. It is designed to test them in all the
degrees of temperature within the range men-
tioned. At the end of each week the gain or
loss is noted, together with the maximum and
minimum readings of the thermometer. These
weekly limits of temperature do not, however,
necessarily indicate the average, to ascertain
which, recourse is had to a chronometrical
182
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
thermometer, having the balance so con-
structed that its rate undergoes great changes
by small variations of temperature, and its
gain or loss during any period, therefore,
showing the average temperature, but ex-
pressed in seconds of time instead of degrees
of the thermometer.
A table is first prepared, showing the run-
ning of the chronometers for each successive
week ; that is, in the order of time. During
the early part of the trial the temperature is
purposely raised from one extreme to the
other ; then the trial continues through all
the medium temperatures, and in the latter
part of the term the temperature is consider-
ably raised ; while in the last month it is al-
lowed to fall again as low as the natural con-
dition of the atmosphere at that season will
admit. A second table is prepared in which
the rates of the chronometers for each week
is shown in the order of temperature, which
shows more readily what the general and par-
ticular effect has been in each case, by the
gradual increase of temperature. A third
table is then prepared, being an abstract of
the first two, and the one we publish, show-
ing for each chronometer in what week it
made its " least weekly sum," and in an ad-
joining column, in what week its " greatest
weekly sum " occurred. Another column
shows the " difference between the greatest
and least," and in the next column is shown
the "greatest difference between one week
and the next." The rule for classifying the
chronometers is as follows :
Multiply the amount in the column headed
" greatest difference between one week and
the next " by 2, and add the amount in the
column headed " difference between the great-
est and the least," and the trial number is ob-
tained. Obviously, the less the trial number,
the higher the chronometer stands in the or-
der of excellence ; and it is in this manner
solely, that the standing is determined. When
the trial is terminated, the Board of Admi-
ralty selects for purchase a certain number of
those that stand highest on the list, accord-
ing to the needs of the service, and instructs
the Astronomer Royal to offer the respective
owners certain prices for them, considerably
higher than could be obtained in the ordinary
course of trade ; so that the price paid is in
the nature of a prize. Of course, what is most,
prized, is the honor of heading the list, and
the approval of the Admiralty.
In the manufacture of chronometers, after
the highest degree of excellence is secured in
the purely mechanical construction, and, as
far as the eye can perceive, each part is well
adapted to the exercise of its function, and
bears a proper relation to every other part,
three difficulties arise to defeat the prime ob-
ject for which they are designed, viz., unifor-
mity of performance. These defects are, accel-
eration of the rate, imperfect compensation, and a
want of isochronism.
Acceleration of rate is due to an inherent
property in a new balance spring, generally
believed to be found in greater degree in
springs of high temper. There is considera-
ble difference of opinion among horologists
as to the reason for this defect, which shows
itself in a steadily increasing rate, lasting
from a few weeks to several years. Eventu-
ally the difficulty ceases to exist, and it is
claimed that those chronometers which pos-
sess this property when new, generally be-
come the most steady when the acceleration
ceases ; but, at all events, they appear none
the worse for having passed through the
ripening process. Acceleration cannot be
remedied by putting in soft balance springs,
as that produces a worse defect, found in
irregular performance. The writer is certain
that the spring should be highly tempered,
and that this should not necessarily cause any
material acceleration of the rate, nor, if it
does, should it continue through any consid-
erable length of time.
Oar readers will have noticed nearly all the
chronometers entered at Greenwich for trial
in the year 1870, were described as having
some sort of auxiliary compensation; and the
same remark applies to every year since 1850,
at which time the Board of Admiralty began
to publish with the annual report a descrip-
tion of any peculiarity of escapement or bal-
ance. It is a well ascertained fact that most
chronometers with the ordinary construction
of balance, when adjusted to maintain the
same rate in extreme temperatures, say 30°
and 100°, go considerably faster in the mean
temperature, or 70°, or what is the same
thing, whatever the rate of such a chronome-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
183
ter in 70°, it goes slower in either extreme ;
and this quantity varies from a small fraction
of a second to six seconds, in some cases, per
day. It rarely happens that chronometers
with ordinary balances have the contrary
property of losing in the mean temperature,
and when they do, in very slight degree. With-
out attempting to go into the reasons for this
interesting fact, it is enough for our present
purpose to point out that, during the last
twenty years, certainly, the English makers
have been impressed with the importance of
overcoming this difficulty in the compensa-
tion. Several years since, Mr. Charles Frod-
sham publicly said in effect that the man who
could invent a balance having all the good
qualities of that ordinarily used, and none of
the unstable properties of the auxiliary com-
pensation or others of similar design, and
which should remedy this one defect, " ought
to have a golden feather put in his cap."
Although there have been nearly as many
inventions to remedy this defect in the com-
pensation as there have been competitors for
the highest honors at Greenwich, yet the
problem does not appear positively to have
been solved.
The effect of a proper isochronal adjust-
ment is shown in the maintenance of a uni-
form rate under varying motive power. If,
therefore, this adjustment is not perfect,
inasmuch as chronometers usually in such
cases go faster with a decrease of power, there
is a tendency to gain, as the oil thickens.
This defect is not developed to any great
extent in a short trial of twenty-nine weeks.
Yet it probably, in some cases, contributes to
failure, as some kinds of oil may slightly
change in fluidity with variations of temper-
ature, thus causing fluctuations in the extent
of the arcs of vibration.
The late Mr. John Poole, of London, was
probably the best of the English makers. The
workmanship on his chronometers was of the
highest order, in addition to which his spring-
ing was of superior merit ; but undoubtedly
much of his success was due to what he
called his auxiliary, though as it was merely
a check acting in cold, we never could see
just why this name was given to it. His
work was very popular with the trade, and
many dealers purchased his chronometers,
having their names put on the dials, and
entered them at these trials, but whatever
credit they gained was due to Mr. Poole,
rather than those whose names they bore. It
is only fair to the other competitors to Bay
that his make stood the best chance of being
first on the list, as there were sometimes as
many as twelve'entered in one year by parties
who had purchased them from him. Poole's
auxiliary was constructed by securing on the
outside of the rim of the balance, at the point
opposite the end of the arm, a small cock,
made concentric with the centre of the bal-
ance, and parallel to the circular rim.
Through the end most distant from the arm
a set screw passed which nearly touched the
rim in medium temperatures. The chronom-
eter was then adjusted to go the same in
high and medium temperatures, which threw
all the error of compensation on the side of
the adjustment for cold, that is, it lost exceed-
ingly in cold. By the aid of the set-screw,
this was remedied, until it corresponded with
the adjustment for other temperatures. Prob-
ably most of the auxiliaries are on this
principle: Dent's, Hartnup's, and Kullberg's
balances are on the principle of flat rims, in-
stead of upright, and the arms as well as the
rims are laminated. Excepting Poole'sj
these balances, or any others with auxiliaries,
are seldom seen in the chronometers manu-
factured for ordinary trade, and the use of
them is mainly confined to those instruments
made expressly for the Admiralty trials.
Some of the auxiliaries are constructed to
act only in heat. "We notice, in 1867, that
Webb entered one such, and in all the tem-
peratures up to 81° it was of unusual excel-
lence ; but at that point the auxiliary began
to act, and so overdid the matter in the
temperatures between 81° and 95° that it
caused it to rank the fifty-first in the list. It
is a curious circumstance that the renowned
maker, Jurgensen, never succeeded in rising
higher than thirty-first in the list, which per-
haps was due to the fact that he clung tena-
ciously to a gold balance spring, of the merits
of which he wrote considerably.
We close this article by adding a table,
compiled from the annual reports of trials of
chronometers at Greenwich since 1840, show-
ing the names of the successful competitors
184
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
and the years in which they respectively
stood first in the list. The names are
arranged in the order of merit, according to
the trial number given by the formula men-
tioned. An inspection will show that the
highest honors have not been monopolized
by any particular maker, although Poole
heads the list five times, Molyneux three
times, and Kullberg, Loseby, Lawson, P.
Birchall, and Fletcher twice each. It is
worthy of note that since 1850 two only
of the chronometers had balances of " ordi-
nary construction," and they had the peculiar-
ity of a "slight alteration."
Year.
1870....
1863
1867
Maker.
....M. F. Dent
....J. B Flelcher
....Sewill
Trial Num
13.1
. 14.0
162
1868
1847
1869....
1852....
...P. Birchall
...J. B. Fletcher
Poole
16.5
17.3
17.6
1854....
....Poole
17.6
1848
1864....
.... Loselvy
17.9
18.6
18.7
1859
1866....
. 19.0
19.0
1842....
. 19.2
1840
20.0
1845
1843....
...Poole
21.0
21 3
1850
•1862....
22 1
22.3
1844-.. .
18tl
23 7
|1861
24 5
1860. . ..
. . . . P. Birchall
. 25.3
1858
1846
26.7
26.9
1853
1855
1849 . . . .
Eiffe
30.2
30.2
33.8
fl856
1857
1851....
36.7
39.6
METALS AND ALLOYS.
Chemistry has made us acquainted with
about forty-three different metals, of which
not more than twelve are of general use in
the industrial arts. These are iron, copper,
lead, tin, zinc, mercury, gold, silver, platinum,
arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. In this
limited list platinum is always employed in a
pure state, although an alloy of platinum and
lead, in definite proportions, is now known to
exist, and is being experimented upon. Iron,
copper, lead, tin, zinc, gold, and silver are all
very extensively employed in their pure state;
but when hardness is required an alloy is
• Made b>- Kullberg.
f Made by Poole.
used, which is a mixture of two or more
metals. This is not a strict definition of alloy,
for mercury unites readily with most metals,
and all the compounds so formed are called
amalgams. "What necessity there is for this
distinction we cannot see, but universal cus-
tom has given to all the alloys of mercury the
name of amalgams.
Although the number of useful metals is
so limited, the number of alloys may be in-
definitely extended; probably two or three
hundred alloys are known, but not more than
about sixty have been studied with care. An
alloy may be regarded as a new metal, since
its properties may be quite different from,
and perhaps generally do not much resemble
either of its component metals. Metallic
compounds, like the chemical, often produce
unexpected results ; and if the metallic mix-
ture was only a mechanical one, the resultant
would be anticipated to be a mean of the
metals so mixed; but as the alloys have totally
different 'properties from their originals, we
must conclude that, at least in many instances,
the combination is chemical, not mechanicaL
The power of forming alloys is highly valu-
able to the manufacturer, as it enables him to
create a new metal adapted to such wants as
the continually advancing state of his art
requires. As illustration of the idea, take
type-metal. Printers required types ; the
harder metals, iron and copper, were too
hard — cutting the paper ; the softer, tin and
lead, were too soft — battering down by the
necessary pressure ; but a combination of two
or three metals was the very thing. An alloy
of one part antimony with three or four of
lead, gave the proper mean, partaking of
the character of both originals, and varying
as the quantities were varied.
As an example of chemical combination
we may take an alloy of tin and copper —
both soft, flexible, and ductile; but nine
parts copper and one of tin makes a tough,
rigid metal, used in casting ordnance, and
called gun -metal. It admits of neither roll-
ing nor drawing, and, by increasing the pro-
portion of the softer metal, tin, the hardness
of the alloy is increased. One-sixth of tin
produces the maximum degree of hardness ;
one-fourth of tin produces the highly sono-
rous bell-metal ; two parts of copper and one
AMEKICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
185
of tin produces an alloy so hard that it can-
not be cut with steel tools, and when struck
with a hammer, or even suddenly heated, it
flies in pieces like glass, and presents a highly
crystalline structure. It retains no trace of
the red color of copper, being quite white,
and is susceptible of such an exquisite polish,
not very easily tarnished, that it is used for
mirrors, and is called speculum metal.
Alloys may be varied by the introduction
of several metals. Brass, for example, is an
alloy of copper and zinc ; but the best brass
for turning at the lathe is made by the addi-
tion of a small quantity of lead, which, how-
ever, renders it unfit for hammering. In
forming alloys on a large scale, the metals,
while fluid, strongly tend to separate accord-
ing to their specific gravity, the heavier going
to the bottom ; and where this difference is
considerable, they require constant stirring
till cold, and then breaking up and re-melt-
ing ; even then it is sometimes difficult to
form a bar entirely homogeneous throughout.
In most alloys of three or more metals it is
best to combine them first in pairs, and then
fuse these pairs together. When the compo-
nent parts of an alloy are separately fused
and mingled together, ~reat heat is evolved ;
thus showing the chemical character of the
union.
The specific gravity of an alloy is seldom
the mean of its constituents. In some cases
there is an increase, and in others a diminu-
tion of density. The following table, prepared
by Thenard, shows clearly this peculiarity:
Increased Density.
Gold and Zinc.
Gold and Tin.
Gold and Bismuth.
Gold and Antimonr.
Gold and Cobalt.
Silver and Zinc.
Silver and Tin.
Silver and Lead.
Silver and Bismuth.
Silver and Antimony.
Copper and Zinc.
Copper and Tin.
Copper and Palladium.
Copper and Bismuth.
Copper and Anrimony.
Lead and Bismuth.
Load and Antimony.
Plat in am and Molybdenum,
Palladium and Bismuth.
Decreased Density.
Gold and Silver.
Gold and Iron.
Gold and Lead.
Gold and Copper.
Gold and Iridium.
Gold and Nickel.
Silver and Copper.
Copper and Lead.
Iron and Bismuth.
Iron and Antimony.
Iron and Lead.
Tin and Lead.
Tin and Palladium.
Tin and Antimony.
Nickel and Arsenic.
Zinc and Antimony.
Alloys conduct heat and electricity less per-
fectly than the pure metals of which they are
composed, and are generally less ductile than
the more ductile of their constituents. "When
formed by nearly equal proportions, there are
as many ductile as brittle alloys ; but when
one of the metals of an alloy greatly predom-
inates, it is usually ductile. By combining
ductile metals with brittle ones, brittle alloys
are usually formed, if the brittle metal pre-
dominates. All alloys of brittle metals are
themselves brittle.
Lead, tin, or zinc, when alloyed with the
less fusible metals — copper, gold, and silver —
produce alloys less malleable when cold than
the superior metals, and, when heated barely
to redness, fly in pieces under the hammer.
Hence brass, gun-metal, etc., when hot, re-
quire cautious treatment.
The strength or cohesion of alloys is gen-
erally greatly superior to that of their con-
stituents. The relative weights required to
sunder a bar one inch square of each of the
following alloys is given in the following
tables fi'om Muschenbroek's Investigations :
Strength of Alloys.
10 Copper— 1 Tin 32,093 lbs.
8 " 1 " 36,088 " .
6 " 1 " 44,071 "
4 " 1 " 35,739 "
2 " 1 " 1,017 "
1 " 1 " 725 "
Strength of the Cast Metals of zohich these Alloys were
Composed.
Barbary Copper 22,570 lbs.
Japan " 20,272 "
English Block Tin 6,650 "
Banca " " ..'."'...'.'.'.'.!!!! 3',679 "
Malacca " " 3,211 "
These results show that theory and prac-
tice agree in assigning the proportion of six
to one as the strongest alloy. In the follow-
ing alloys, which are the strongest of their
respective groups, the tin is always four times
the quantity of the other metal ; and they all
confirm the remarkable fact, that alloys for
the most part have a greater degree of cohe-
sion than the stronger of their constituents.
Strength of Alloys.
4 English tin, 1 Lead 10,607 lbs.
4 Banca tin, 1 Antimony, 13,480 "
4 Banca tin, 1 Bismuth, 16.692 "
4 English tin, 1 Zinc, 10,258 "
4 English tin, 1 Antimony, 11,323 "
Strength of their Constituent Cast Metals .
, Lead, 885 lbs.
Antimony, 1,060 "
Zinc, 2,689 "
Bismuth, 3,008 "
Tin, 2,211 to 6,660 "
186
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
All the metals, even the most refractory,
which can scarcely be fused in a crucible at
the greatest heat of a furnace, melt down with
ease when surrounded by more fusible ones.
Thus nickel is nearly as difficult of fusion as
iron, but it is usefully employed with copper
in forming German silver, to which it gives
whiteness and hardness. Platinum is a very
refractory metal, yet it combines so readily
with zinc, tin, and arsenic, that it is danger-
ous to heat one of those metals in a platinum
spoon, for an alloy would probably be formed
and the spoon spoiled.
This peculiarity fully explains the result
which often occurs by the unskilful use of the
blow-pipe. Any attempt to hard-solder gold
or silver to which the smallest particle of
lead, tin, zinc, or other easily fusible metal is
attached, " eats up," as the workmen say, the
gold or silver — that is, the superior metal,
being in the presence of an easily fused one,
commences to flow, and forms with the softer
one an alloy which is exceedingly brittle and
hard ; when intense heat is used, it sometimes
becomes so hard as to resist the file.
As we do not propose to give a treatise on
metallurgy, only so far as of interest to the
trade, and as not one simple metal enters into
the construction of either clocks or watches,
we shall be obliged to treat principally of
alloys, the primary metals being spoken of
only in their connection with them.
Alloys are, without exception, more fusible
than their constituent metals ; the fusing
point of an alloy being generally lower than
that of the less fusible metal in its com-
position. An alloy, very remarkable for its
easy fusibility, is formed of 8 parts bismuth, 5
of lead, and 3 of tin, and fuses at about 200°.
And yet, if we calculate the fusing point by
multiplying the mean of the fusing points
into their mass, we get 520° as the fusing point.
8 X 500 + 5 X 600 + 3 X 422
16
= 520°.
Safety plugs for steam-boilers are made by
combining these metals in such proportions
as to be fusible at a given temperature, and
inserted in the hole in the boiler, and when
the temperature arrives at the given degree,
the plug is fused, giving escape to the steam,
and relief to the pressure in the boiler. Sir
Isaac Newton is said to be the discoverer of
this fusible alloy. An alloy of antimony and
iron can be set on fire by the action of a file.
The alloy of chromium and lead will spon-
taneously ignite in the open air if the tem-
perature be slightly raised. In forming an
alloy it is often necessary to protect one or
both the metals from the action of the atmos-
phere. Thus in combining lead and tin, resin
or grease is usually put on the surface of the
melted metals. In alloys formed of two
metals, one of which is oxidizable and the
other not, the first may be converted into an
oxide, and the other retain its metallic stata
By this method silver is separated from lead,
and some of our native leads are sent to
Europe for teatment by this method, the
silver obtained making the transaction com-
mercially profitable.
HINTS TO REPAIRERS.
In the practice of watch repairing there are
many little appliances, and certain methods
of performing various little jobs of work, the
object of which is, in some instances, to save
time and labor, and in others to impart a
more perfect finish to the work. These little
" secrets " { don't misunderstand the term),
which to the accomplished workman would
seem too insignificant to mention, would be
more prized by the unskilled artisan than the
most elaborate scientific essay on any subject
connected with the manufacture of watches.
To the workman whose occupation is that of
a repairer only, any little assistance in the
direction of saving time or labor is eagerly
welcomed.
A trouble much experienced by unskilled
workmen, after replacing a broken cylinder
or staff, is to find the proper place for the
hair-spring stud in order to effect the proper
beat. They manage to find it, it is true, but
only after the expenditure of much time and
labor, pushing the collet hither and thither
until the proper " beat " is effected. In the
case of a cylinder much time may be saved by
putting the balance-wheel and bridge in posi-
tion, being careful to screw down the bridge
firmly to prevent shaking— a trouble often
experienced with worn watches ; the balance
is then moved to such a position that a tooth
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
187
of the escape-wheel rests on one of the im-
pulse arms of the cylinder, it being imma-
terial which, and the point on the balance
exactly opposite the stud hole will be the pro-
per place for the hair-spring stud.
In a lever escapement the proper place for
the stud is found by placing the balance in
such a position that the ruby pins stand di-
rectly in the centre, between the two banking
pins or abutments, and the point on the
balance exactly underneath or opposite the
stud hole is the proper place for the hair-
spring stud. This brings a tooth of the
escape-wheel on one of the impulse planes of
the pallet, which is the proper position. In
general, the lever or cylinder escapement must
be so adjusted that, when power is applied
(wound), it will start of itself, without being
shaken to bring it into action. In the Duplex
escapement the proper place for the stud may
be found by placing the balance in such a posi-
tion that a long tooth of the escape-wheel rests
on the duplex roller, exactly between the slot
and impulse pallet ; the point on the balance-
wheel exactly opposite the stud hole in the
bridge being the proper place for the stud. The
impulse jewel, when in action, should be 5° in
front of the impulse tooth before receiving the
impulse. The diameter of the duplex roller
should be one-fourth the space between two
long teeth of the escape-wheel. In the case of a
chronometer escapement, the proper place for
the stud is found by placing the balance in
such a position that the gold spring is exactly
between the impulse and unlocking jewels ;
in such a position the point on the bal-
ance directly opposite the stud hole is the
proper place for the stud. The impulse
jewel, when in action, should be 5° in front of
the tooth before receiving the impulse. The
chronometer and duplex escapements, unlike
the lever and cylinder, require to be put in posi-
tion to perform. This arises from the nature of
the escapement. To underturn the face of a
pinion, staff, etc., nicely, should be an object of
solicitude to every repairer, as it gives a beauti-
ful appearance to the finished work ; but to
some workmen underturning presents many
difficulties. The easiest manner of accomplish-
ing this is by constructing a graver whose face,
when ground, presents the shape of an acute
cone, and which must be well hardened and
tempered. The graver is then held in the
position as if a point were to be turned in the
direction of the underturning, which will
effect the desired result. Care must be taken
not to press the graver too hard against the
object to be turned, as the point of the graver
(the essential part) would be in danger
of breaking, but should be held gently, yet
firm. After grinding any graver it should
be polished by rubbing it across a piece of
chamois leather, stretched on a piece of wood,
and impregnated with rouge. Any metal
(unless it be too hard), especially brass, on
being turned with a graver thus prepared,
presents the part turned with the appearance
of having been polished.
It is very often necessary for the repairer
to replace a hair-spring, and although this
is not a very difficult job, it generally
occupies the unskilled workman the greater
portion of the day. By observing the follow-
ing directions any workman will be enabled,
with a little practice, to adjust a hair-spring
suitable to the watch in the space of a quarter
of an hour : First, ascertain the number of
vibrations the balance makes in a minute,
by counting the wheel teeth and pinion leaves,
as explained on page 19, current volume.
Generally, Swiss watches beat 300, English
240, and American either 300 or 270 per
minute ; secondly, select a spring whose outer
coil lies naturally in the regulator pins at the
same time that the inner coil is opposite the
cock jewel, and temporarily fasten it to the
balance staff with wax, and pin the outer coil
into the stud, and place the balance thus into
position. Wind the watch one turn, and allow
it to vibrate exactly a minute, as indicated by
a good regulator. Should the number of
beats the balance makes in this minute
coincide with the number of beats the watch
ought properly to make, as before determined,
then the spring is one well adapted to the
watch ; but should it lose or gain vibrations
in the minute indicated by the regulator, it
proves the spring to be either too weak or too
strong, and must be replaced by one suitable.
It is not always necessary to change a spring
should the difference be slight, as it may be
regulated by giving greater length to, or short-
ening the length of, the hair-spring.
Charles Spiro.
188
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
LIGHT.
NUMBER THREE.
Before proceeding farther, it is necessary
that these simple details should be thor-
oughly mastered. Given the position of a
point in the axis of a concave mirror, no diffi-
culty must be experienced in finding the
position of the image of that point, nor in
determining whether the focus is virtual or
real. It will thus become evident that while a
point moves from an infinite distance to the
centre of a spherical mirror, the image of that
point moves only over the distance between
the principal focus and the centre. Con-
versely, it will be seen that during the pas-
sage of a luminous point from the centre to
the principal focus, the image of the
point moves from the centre to an
infinite distance. The point and its image
occupy what are called conjugate foci. If the
last note be understood, it will be seen that
the conjugate foci move in opposite direc-
tions, and that they coincide at the centre of
the mirror. If, instead of a point, an object
of sensible dimensions be placed beyond the
centre of the mirror, an inverted image of the
object diminished in size will be formed
between the centre and the principal focus.
If the object be placed between the centre
and the principal focus, an inverted and mag-
nified image of the object will be formed
beyond the centre. The positions of the
image and its object are, it will be remem-
bered, convertible. In the two cases men-
tioned in the preceding paragraph, the image
is formed in the air in front of the mirror. It
is a real image. But if the object be placed
between the principal focus and the mirror,
an erect and magnified image of the object is
seen behind the mirror. The image is here
virtual. The rays enter the eye as if they
came from an object behind the mirror. It
is plain that the images seen in a common
looking-glass are all virtual images.
It is now to be noted that what has been
here stated regarding the gathering of rays to
a single focus by a spherical mirror is only
true when the mirror forms a small fraction
of the spherical surface. Even then it is only
* Extracts from Prof. Tyndall's lectures on Light.
practically, not strictly and theoretically,
true.
CAUSTICS BY REFLECTION (cATACAUSTICs).
When a large fraction of the spherical sur-
face is employed as a mirror, the rays are not
all collected to a point ; their intersections,
on the contrary, form a luminous surface,
which in optics is called a caustic (German,
Brennflache). The interior surface of a com-
mon drinking-glass is a curved reflector. Let
the glass be nearly filled with milk, and a
lighted candle placed beside it ; a caustic
curve will be drawn upon the surface of the
milk. A carefully bent hoop, silvered within,
also shows the caustic very beautifully. The
focus of a spherical mirror is the cusp of its
caustic.
Aberration. — The deviation of any ray from
this cusp is called the aberration of the ray.
The inability of a spherical mirror to collect
all the rays falling upon it to a single point is
called the spherical aberration of the mirror.
Real images, as already stated, are formed
in the air in front of a concave mirror, and
they may be seen in the air by an eye placed
among the divergent rays beyond the image.
If an opaque screen, say of thick paper, inter-
sect the image, it is projected on the screen
and is seen in all positions by an eye placed in
front of the screen. If the screen be semi-
transparent, say of ground glass or tracing-
paper, the image is seen by an eye placed
either in front of the screen or behind it.
The images in phantasmagoria are thus
formed.
Concave spherical surfaces are usually
employed as burning-mirrors. By condens-
ing the sunbeams with a mirror 3 feet in
diameter and of 2 feet focal distance, very
powerful effects may be obtained. At the
focus, water is rapidly boiled, and combusti-
ble bodies are immediately set on fire. Thick
paper bursts into flame with explosive vio-
lence, and a plank is pierced as with a hot
iron.
CONVEX MIRRORS.
In the case of a con vex spherical mirror the
positions of its foci and of its images are
found as in the case of a concave mirror. But
all the foci and all the images of a convex
mirror are virtual. Thus to find the princi-
pal focus you draw parallel rays, which, on
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
189
reflection, enclose angles with the radii equal
to those enclosed by the direct rays. The
reflected rays are here divergent ; but on
being produced backwards, they intersect at
the principal focus behind (he mirror.
The drawing of two lines suffices to fix the
position of the image of any point of an
object either in concave or convex spherical
mirrors. A ray drawn from the point through
the centre of the mirror will be reflected
through the centre ; a ray drawn parallel to
the axis of the mirror will, after reflection,
pass, or its production will pass, through the
principal focus. The intersection of these
two reflected rays determines the position of
the image of the point. Applying this con-
struction to objects of sensible magnitude, it
follows that the image of an object in a con-
vex mirror is always erect and diminished.
If the mirror be parabolic instead of spher-
ical, all parallel rays falling upon the mirror
are collected to a point at its focus ; con-
versely, a luminous point placed at the focus
S3nds forth pira'lel rays ; there is no aber-
ration. If the mirror be elliptical, all rays
emitted from one of the foci of the ellipsoid
are collected together at the other. Para-
bolic reflectors are employed in light-houses,
where it is an object to send a power-
ful beam, consisting of rays as nearly as
possible parallel, far out to sea. In this case
the centre of the flame is placed in the focus
of the mirror ; but, inasmuch as the flame is
of sensible magnitude, and not a mere point,
the rays of the reflected beam are not accu-
rately parallel.
T3P, REFRACTION OF LIGHT ( DIOPTRICS ).
"We have hitherto confined our attention to
the portion of a beam of light which rebounds
from the reflecting surface. But, in general,
a portion of the beam also enters the reflect-
ing substance, being rapidly quenched when
the substance is opaque, and freely transmit-
ted when the substance is transparent. Thus
in the case of water, when the incidence is
perpendicular, all the rays are transmitted,
save the 18 referred to as being reflected.
That is to say, 982 out of every 1,000 rays
enter the water and pass through it. So
likewise in the case of mercury, mentioned
in the :-;ame note; 334 out of every 1,000 rays
falling on the mercury at a perpendicular
incidence, enter the metal and are quenched
at a minute depth beneath its surface.
We have now to consider that portion of
the luminous beam which enters the reflect-
ing substance, taking, as an illustrative case,
the passage from air into water. If the beam
fall upon the water as a perpendicular, it
pursues a straight course through the water;
if the incidence be oblique, the direction of
the beam is changed at the point where it
enters the water. This bending of the beam
is called refraction. Its amount is different
in different substances. The refraction of
light obeys a perfectly rigid law which must
be clearly understood. Let A B C D, Fig. 2,
be the section of a cylindrical vessel which is
half filled with water, its surface being A C.
E is the centre of the circular section of the
cylinder, and B D is a perpendicular to the
surface at E. Let the cylindrical envelope of
the vessel be opaque, say of brass or tin, and
let an aperture be imagined in it at B, through
which a narrow light-beam passes to the
point E. The beam will pursue a straight
course to D without turning to the right or
to the left. Let the aperture be imagined at
m, the beam striking the surface of the water
at E obliquely. Its course on entering the
liquid will be changed ; it will pursue the
track E n. Draw the line m o perpendicular
to B D, and also the line n p perpendicular to
the same B D. It is always found that m o
divided by n p is a constant quantity, no matter
what may be the angle at which the ray
enters the water. The angle marked x above
the surface is called the angle of incidence ;
the angle at y below the surface is called the
angle of refraction ; and if we regard the
radius of the circle A B C D as uni y or 1, the
line m o will be the sine of the angle of inci-
190
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
dence; while the line n p will be the sine of
the angle of refraction. Hence the all-im-
portant optical law — The sine of the angle of
incidence divided by the sine of the angle of re-
fraction is a constant quantity. However these
angles may vary in size, this bond of relation-
ship is never severed. If one of them be
lessened or augmented, the other must dimin-
ish or increase, so as to obey this law. Thus,
if the incidence be along the dotted line m' E,
the refraction will be along the line E n', but
the ratio of m' o' to n' p' will be precisely the
same as that of mo ton p. The constant quan-
tity here referred to is called the index of re-
fraction.
One word more is necessary to the full
comprehension of the term sine, and of the
experimental demonstration of the law of
refraction. When one number is divided
by another, the quotient is called the ratio of
the one number to the other. Thus 1 divi-
ded by 2 is |3 and this is the ratio of 1 to 2.
Thus also 2 divided by 1 is 2, and this is the
ratio of 2 to 1. In like manner 12 divided by
3 is 4, and this is the ratio of 12 to 3. Con-
versely, 3 divided by 12 is \, and this is the
ration of 3 to 12. In a right-angled triangle
the ratio of any size to the hypothenuse is
found by dividing that side by the hypothe-
nuse. The ratio is the sine of the angle opposite
to the side, however large or small the triangle
may be. Thus in Fig. 2 the sine of the angle
x in the right-angled triangle E o m, is really
the ratio of the line o m to the lrypothenuse
E m ; it would be expressed in a fractional
form thus,
E?n
In like manner, the sine of
y is the ratio of the line n p to the hypothe-
nuse E n, and would be expressed in a frac-
n p
tional form thus,
E n
These fractions are
the sines of the respective angles, whatever
be the length of the line E m or E n. In the
particular case above referred to, where these
lines are considered [as units, the fractions
— - and — -' or, in other words, m o and np
become, as stated, the sines of the respective
angles. We are now prepared to understand
a simple but rigid demonstration of the law
of refraction.
M L J K is a cell with parallel glass sides
and one opaque end, M L. The light of a
candle placed at A falls into the vessel, the
end M L casting a shadow which reaches to
the point E. Fill the vessel with water — the
shadow retreats to H through the refraction
of the light at the point where it enters the
water. The angle enclosed between M E
and M L is equal to the angle of incidence
x, and in accordance with the definition
T "F T FT
given in 120, ; — — is its sine: while — — : is the
° ME M H
sine of the angle of refraction, y. All these
lines can be either measured or calculated.
If they be thus determined, and if the divi-
sion be actually made, it will always be found
T "F T FT
that the two quotients — - and — — stand in
1 ME M H
a constant ratio to each other, whatever the
angle may be at which the light from A strikes
the surface of the liquid. This ratio in the
case of water is f, or, expressed in decimals,
1.333. When the light passes from air into
water, the refracted ray is bent toivards the
perpendicular. This is generally, but not
always, the case when the light passes from
a rarer to a denser medium. The principle
of reversibility which runs through the whole
of optics finds illustration here. When the
ray passes from water to air it is bent from
the perpendicular; it accurately reverses its
course. If instead of water we employed vine-
gar, the ratio would be 1.344; with brandy it
would be 1.360; with rectified spirit of wine,
1.372; with oil of almonds or with olive oil,
1.470; with spirit of turpentine, 1.605; with
oil of aniseed, 1.538; with oil of bitter almonds,
1.471; with bisulphide of carbon, 1.678; with
phosphorus, 2.24. These numbers express
the indices of refraction of the various sub-
stances mentioned; all of them refract the
light more powerfully than water, and it is
worthy of remark that all of them, except
vinegar are combustible substances.
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
191
It was the observation on the part of New-
ton, that, having regard to their density,
"unctuous substances " as a general rule re-
fracted light powerfully, coupled with the
fact that the index of refraction of the dia-
mond reached, according to his measure-
ments, so high a figure as 2.439, that caused
him to foresee the possible combustible na-
ture of the diamond. The bold prophecy of
Newton has been fulfilled, the combustion of
a diamond being one of the commonest ex-
periments of modern chemistry. It is here
worth noting that the refraction by spirit of
turpentine is greater than that by water,
though the density of the spirit is to that of
the water as 874 is to 1,000. A ray passing
obliquely from the spirit of ti rpentine into
water is bent from the perpendicular, though
it passes from a rarer to a denser medium;
while a ray passing from water into the spirit
of turpentine is bent towards the perpendicular,
though it passes from a denser to a rarer
medium. Hence the necessity of the words
"not always," employed in 123.
If a ray of light pass through a refracting plate
with parallel surfaces, or through any nunber
of plates with parallel surfaces on regaining
the medium from which it started, its original
direction is restored. This follows from the
principle of reversibility already referred to.
In passing through a refracting body, or
through any number of refracting bodies, the
light accomplishes its transit in the minimum
of time. That is to say, given the velocity of
light in the various media, the path chosen
by the ray, or, in other words, the path which
its refraction imposes upon the ray, enables
it to perform its journey in the most rapid
manner possible. Refraction always causes
water to appear shallower, or a transparent
plate of any kind thinner, than it really is.
The lifting up of the lower surface of a glass
cube, through this cause, is very remarkable.
To understand why the water appears
shallower, fix your attention on a point at its
bottom, and suppose the line of vision from
that point to the eye to be perpendicular to
the surface of the water. Of all rays issuing
from the point, the perpendicular one alone
reaches the eye without refraction. Those
close to the perpendicular, on emerging from
the water, have their divergence augmented
by refraction. Producing these divergent
rays backwards, they intersect at a point
above the real bottom, and at this point the
bottom will be seen. The apparent shallow-
ness is augmented by looking obliquely into
the water. In consequence of this apparent
rise of the bottom, a straight stick thrust
into water is bent at the surface from
the perpendicular. Note the difference
between the deportment of the stick and of a
luminous beam. The beam on entering the
water is bent towards the perpendicular. This
apparent lifting of the bottom when water is
poured into a basin brings into sight an ob-
ject at the bottom of the basin which is un-
seen when the basin is empty.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
P. G., Mass., inquires, with some anxiety,
whether the eyes of a watchmaker are not
liable to injury by the constant and intense
use of them in his occupation. We think
not. Observations among the fraternity in
this respect have convinced us — and we
think the observation of all will confirm the
opinion — that the eyes of watchmakers will
compare favorably with any class of me-
chanics or tradesmen in durability ; indeed,
if there be any difference, their eyes are
better.
The injury to eyes is not usually done by
intense use of them, but by tiresome use. With
a watchmaker, for a moment or two — or at
farthest for five minutes — he may apply them
intensely ; then they are relieved from strain
by a look out of the window, across the shop,
at a customer, or whatever else, and become
rested. But let them be fixed — set, as it
were, to a given focal distance, as in reading,
sewing, writing, or any occupation that con-
fines them for hours to that one distance —
and they will become painful, and demand
relief, which, if denied, will sooner or later
tell upon their healthy condition. The use of
an eye-glass for years should, if injurious,
show that injury by some difference in the
two eyes ; but facts show no such difference,
although the glass may have been used on
one eye only for very many years. P. G.
192
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
need have no misgivings about the failure of
his sight from any such cause.
G. M. H, N Y — The instrument of which
you send a drawing is by no means new,
being found in all the tool stores, and known
as an inside caliper.
Your use of it is new, but we cannot see in
what way it will be very beneficial ; as we
understand your description, you only get the
distance between the shoulders of the pinion
or staff, and that measurement is seldom lost,
for pinions very rarely break. If the pivot
breaks you still have the shoulder left, and
your tool would be useless. A staff never
breaks, only the pivots; and your caliper will
rot give you the length of the required pivot.
If the points of your instrument were small
enough to go through the jewel hole and rest
against the end stone, they would be too
delicate to handle with safety.
H. E. W., Richfield Springs.— Muck of the
Etruscan jewelry is made so exceedingly thin
as to be almost destroyed by the process of
coloring. No quality finer than 14 carat can
be used for such a purpose, the coloring being
done by eating away, chemically, the alloy
from the surface, leaving only the fine gold;
and as this takes effect on both surfaces,
when very thin, there is no solid metal left
for strength, and consequently the article is
exceedingly fragile.
When such goods are hard-soldered the
color cannot be restored except by gilding,
coloring it b}r the battery process ; sometimes
in cases of exigency, when soft-soldering
must be resorted to, a temporary color can be
applied by painting the discolored part with
shell gold.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
229 Broadicay, X. T.,
At $2.50 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited '-number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
rteeived.
fcstr Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Greet Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For February, 1871.
(V
Sidereal
Time
Equation
Equation
Sidereal
Is
Day
of
the 8emi-
of
Time to be
of
Time to be
Diff.
or
Right
Ascension
of
Mon.
diameter
Passing
Added to
Apparent
Subtracted
from
One
the
Meridian.
Time.
Mean Time.
Mean Sun.
S.
M. 8.
M. 8.
8.
H. M. 8.
w
1
68.28
13 49 81
13 49 73
0.332
20 45- 0.24
Th
7,
68.17
13 57.33
13 57 26
0.297
20 48 56.80
Fri
3
68.05
14 4.02
14 3 96
0.262
20 52 53.36
Sat
4
67 94
14 9.89
14 9 84
0.227
20 56 49.91
Su,
5
67 82
14 14.94
14 14 89
0.193
21 0 46.47
M..
6
67.71
14 19.17
14 19 13
0.159
21 4 43.02
Th.
7
67.59
14 22.60
14 22 57
0.126
21 8 39.58
W.
8
67 48
14 25.25
14 25.23
0.094
21 12 36.13
Th
9
67 36
14 27.12
14 27.10
0.062
21 16 32.69
Fri
10
67.25
14 28.21
14 28.20
0.030
21 20 29.24
Sat,
11
67.14
14 28.53
14 28 53
0.001
21 24 25.80
Su.
12
67 03
14 28.11
14 28.12
0.032
21 28 22.35
M..
13
66 92
14 26.95
14 26.97
0.063
21 32 18.90
Tn.
14
66 81
14 25 06
14 25.08
0.093
21 36 15.46
W.
15
66.71
14 22.45
14 22 48
0.123
21 40 12.01
Tli.
16
66 61
14 19.12
14 19.16
0.153
2144 8.57
Fri.
17
66.51
14 15.10
14 15.14
0.182
21 48 5.12
Sat
18
66 41
14 10.37
14 10.42
0.211
21 52 1.67
Su
19
66.31
14 4 95
14 5.00
0.239
21 55 58.23
M..
20
66 21
13 5^.85
13 58.92
0.267
21 59 54.78
Tu.
21
66.12
13 52.09
13 52 16
0.294
22 3 51.34
W.
22
66.02
13 44 68
13 44 76
0.321
22 7 47.89
Th.
23
65.93
13 36.04
13 36.73
0.348
22 11 44.44
Fri
24
65.84
13 27.96
13 28.05
0.375
22 15 41.00
Sat
25
65.76
13 18.66
13 18.75
0.400
22 19 37 55
Su.
26
65.68
13 8.76
13 8.86
0.424
22 23 34.10
M.
27
65 60
12 58.28
12 58.37
0.448
22 27 80.66
Tu.
28
65.52
12 47.21
12 47 32
0.471
22 31 27.21
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.19 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D H. M.
© Full Moon 5 2 2.0
( Last Quarter... 12 3 0.4
0 New Moon 19 149 0
) FirstQuarter 26 22 38.3
D. H.
( Perigee 13 7 1
( Apogee 26 9.2
O I II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48.1
h. m. s.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20 . 572
Hudson, Ohio ... 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPABENT APPABENT MERID.
B. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PA8SAQB.
D. H. M. 8. o • 0 H- M'
Venus 1 21 52 45. 81.... -14 28 8.4 1 7.8
Jupiter.... 1 5 1 36 14.. ..4 22 25 45.2 8 15.2
Saturn. .. 1 18 23 63.72.... -22 32 8.3 2135.7
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal.
Vol. II.
NEW YORK, MARCH, 1871
No. 9.
CONTENTS.
Essay on* the Construction of a Simple and
Mechanicallt Perfect Watch, • 193
Correction, 200
Heat 201
Bkass Allots, 204
Light, 207
Hi>-ts to Repairers, 211
Good Time 212
Donation- to the Museum of the Land Office, . 213
Jewelry Peddlers 213
Qcery, 214
Answers to Correspondents.. . . %. . . . 215
Equation of Time Taf,lb 216
* » * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Mlllek, P. 0. Box 6715, New York
City. Publication Office 229 Broadway, Room 19.
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, in tbe
office of tha Librarian of Cougress at Washington.]
ESSAY
ON TUB
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANI-
CALLY PERFECT WATCH.
BY MOKRITZ GROSSMANN.
CHAPTER II.
THE BARREL AND MATN-BPRING.
24. An attentive consideration of tbe way
in -which this element of the -watch is exe-
cuted by the modern horological manufac-
turers will result in the conviction that the
care which is due to an object
of such importance has not been
bestowed upon it. This fact is
the more surprising, as a great
number of cheap lever watches
are produced in our day, with
escapements so badly made that
they can only be brought to a
tolerable vibration by an excess
of motive power.
25. In arra- ging the barrel
of a watch, the manufacturer
ought to be thoroughly penetrated with the
principle that the height and diameter
granted for a watch should determine the
breadth and thickness of the main -spring.
It is of the utmost importance to make the
barrel as high and wide as the dimensions of
the watch will allow of. For this purpose it
will prove a good proportion to multiply the
outer diameter of the pillar plate by the frac-
tion 0.47. This will be the diameter of a
barrel wheel as large as the size of the watch
will admit (Fig. 1a). It is even possible to
go a little beyond this limit, by placing the
toothed part of the barrel a little lower than
it is commonly done, in order* to lodge this
largest part of the barrel in the hollow space
of the middle rim of the case, where there is
always space enough, especially in hunting
cases, if the case springs are properly placed
(Fig. 1b). In this case, the diameter of the
plate may be multiplied by 0.485, for attain-
ing the diameter of the barrel.
26. The height of the barrel in a three-
quarter plate movement ought to be the sum
of the height of the pillars and the thickness
of the pillar plate, after subtracting only a
sufficient space for the free movement be-
tween the top and bottom of the barrel and
the frame plates, and the necessary thickness
of the bearing for the lower end of the barrel
arboi\ _•■ ,
Fig. 1a.
27. It will be easily understood that a
watch, the escapement and depths of which
I are imperfect, and made in a careless way,
! will require a powerful main-spring, while in
! a carefully made watch, the judicious utilizing
194
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
of space in the barrel will allow of employing
a long and thin main-spring, which, by its
Fig. 1b.
suppleness, is less liable to accident, and, by
the number of turns it makes in the barrel,
affords the advantageous resource of select-
ing the middle turns of the development of
the sprkig for the daily march of the move-
ment, and thus to obtain a greater uniformity
of motive power.
28. It will also be found advisable to re-
duce the breadth of the toothed rim of the
barrel as nearly as possible to the amount
required for the length of the teeth. There
are many watches, the barrels of which, al-
ready too small in diameter, have also the
toothed rim of an excessive breadth, so that
much of the space due to the spring is entirely
lost. It is quite obvious that a barrel of that
kind causes a double loss of power. Not
only must the spring be thinner and weaker
than it might otherwise be, but also the inner
radius of the bar*%J , which is the lever of power,
is shortened ; while the radius of the toothed
part, which is the lever of resistance, is tke
same. The same consideration indicates also,
that the sides of the barrel ought only to
have the thickness required for fastening a
solid hook.
29. If all the proportions of the barrel are
as they ought to be, a spring of the thickness
of -Jff of the inner diameter of the barrel will
be quite sufficient to produce a lively vibra-
tion in a, watch with escapement and depths
a little carefully made- Such a spring, if the
centre of the arbor is one-third of the inner
diameter of the barrel, has a development
of more than six turns, of
which the middle ones may
be selected for the daily
march of the watch,
30- The way in which to
construct the barrel arbor
shows a vast difference be-
tween the various manu-
facturing countries. I do
not hesitate a single mo-
ment to disapprove the sys-
tem in general use in the
Swiss watches. In the great-
est part of them the lower
end of the arbor has no
bearing and support at all,
and the barrel is maintained
in its place by the ratchet,
which is made out of the solid of the arbor.
This system shows clearly that the preference
which it enjoys is merely due to a blind
routine. It offers neither economy of time
in the manufacturing and in the repairing,
nor a better distribution of room for flat
watches ; besides, it is inferior in the point
of solidity and durability. In all v/atches, in
those of careful make as well as in those of
lower class work, the barrel arbor ought to
be supported at both ends by solid bearings ;
in the former for the sake of greater solidity,
and in the latter, also, for that of cheaper
manufacturing.
31. There are two modes of executing these
free standing barrel arbors. One of them
has the ratchet forming part of the arbor it-
self (Fig. 2), sunk from the upper side into
Fig. 2.
the uuirel unuge, and is neid in its pi&uc oy
a cap with three or four screws. These screws,
having hardly more than three or four threads
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
195
in the substance of the bridge, are the only
means of securing the stability of the recep-
tacle of the moving power in the watch;
Every repairer will know, from oft-repeated
experience, that th's adjustment is an inex-
haustible source of trouble, and that the inner
face of the cap or the bottom of the sink are
subject to rapid wear by the daily winding, if
it has been neglected to oil the frictional sur-
faces. The consequence of this wear is an
excess of shake of the ratchet and of the whole
barrel. Any defect of this kind is a very
serious one, because the barrel and centre-
wheel, the two largest moving parts of the
train, have, by necessity, their surfaces very
close to each other.
32. With the other mode of execution, the
ratchet is screwed with three screws on to
the shoulder formed at the part of the arbor
just above the barrel (Fig. 3).
This s- stem is still worse from the point
of durability. There are only two small an-
nular surfaces which constitute the hold of
the barrel. The shoulder of the arbor, as
well as the edge of the ratchet, wear away
gradually the upper and lower side of the
bridge, and the screws slacken their hold by
the numerous little jerks of the click when
winding the watch. Besides, the ratchet is
subject to defects in hardening, and by the
three holes and sinks for the serews rather
close to the edge. In b<5th these cases iiw
core of the barrel arbor is a separate piece,
screwed on the arbor, or adjusted on it and
held in its place by a pin through both parts.
The finger of the stop-work is secured to the
end of the arbor by a pin through this latter.
33. The most advantageous way, both for
the manufacturing and repairing, as well as
for the durability and good service, is to
make the barrel arbor with two pivots, sup-
ported each by a bearing. An arbor of this
kind is very easy to execute. The ratchet
must be fitted on the square of the arbor,
which is easier to achieve than the adjustment
of the core of the Swiss arbors. There is no
necessity of perforating the lower end of the
arbor in order to secure the stop-finger in
its place, which is attained by the lower bridge
of the barrel.
A barrel of this nature is much easier to
take to pieces and to put together than a
Swiss one. It requires merely taking off the
cover of the barrel, and all is done ; while
with the other one the pin of the stop-finger
must be taken off, and after opening the bar-
rel, the pin joining the core to the arbor must
be drawn out or the core screwed off, before
the parts can be cleaned, or a new spring
put in, and afterwards
all these arrangements
have to be got together
again.
34. In a frame, the pillar
plate of which was hollowed
only 0.2 or 0.3 mill, at the
dial side, this space would
suffice for containing a thin
steel bridge for maintaining
the lower pivot of the arbor.
The same space would be
necessitated for receiving m
a solid way the pin for the
stop-finger, if we do not wish to create that
unfortunate state of many flat watches, in
which it is hardly possible to draw out and
put in that pin without splitting the end of
the arbor. Thus it wilj be seen that there is
not even an economy of space to be obtained
by this system.
CHAPTER III.
THE CLICK TTOKK.
35. The click is a necessary adjunct of the
barrel and main-spring, its purpose being to
prevent the retrograde motion of the arbor
when the winding action ceases. This func-
tion being rather out of connexion with all
the other parts of the movement, it cannot be
196
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
a matter of surprise to see the click-woi'k
executed in a great variety of different ways,
all attaining the same purpose with more or
less ease in the execution, and with different
degrees of elegance in appearance.
36. If simplicity and easy execution are
required — especially if the click-work is to be
sunk into the upper plate — it seems that the
round adjustments deserve the preference.
The most simple click- work of that kind
would consist in the ratchet and click-spring ;
the latter of circular form, and surrounding
the ratchet with only the necessary interval
for free movement — both parts to be adjusted
in a sink in the upper plate (Fig, 4j. The
i Fig. 4.
click ought to move on a stud left in the sink,
or between two pivots. The whole arrange-
ment would be covered and held in its place
by a cap screwed on the plate, and perhaps
sunk into it a trifle, just in order to centre it
easier. A small hole through the cap, at a
proper place, would be useful for lifting the
click out of action when it is required to let
the spring down. It would hardly be possi-
ble to have a click-work more simple and
cheap of execution, and still quite reliable,
than this one.
37. For watches, in the execution of which
a greater degree of elegance is wished for,
the click and click-spring may be exposed by
leaving a small annular space round the sink
that contains the ratchet, on which space the
cap is screwed. The spring is lodged into a
circular sink outside this space, so that it is
only covered a very little by the cap, in order
to be secured to its place (Fig. 5). The
Fig. 5.
thinner acting part of the spring may easily
be formed in an eccentric chuck on the lathe.
38. It would be
Fig. 6. a simplification
of the click-work
to form the click
at the acting end
of the spring, but
the click and
spring are much
exposed to break,
and in such a case
the replacing of
the piece would
be a greater
trouble (Figs. 6
and 7).
39. The mate-
rial of which the
click-work ought
to be made is
hardened and
well tempered
steel, at least for
the ratchet and
click. The spring
might as well be made of another metal of
sufficient elasticity, but steel is generally pre-
ferred, for the more lively appearance which
its polished surface gives to the movement.
Fig. 7.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
197
CHAPTER IV.
THE STOP-WOBK.
40. The last of the accessories of the
moving power is the mechanism regulating
the amount of tension to apply to the spring
in winding it, and the range of development
of this latter to be employed for the daily
march of the watch. This part, of all others,
is the most open to controversy as to the
best mode of attaining its purpose ; and as to
the way of its execution there is a great va-
riety, from its total omission to the rather
complicated and ingenious stop-works of
some Swiss and French watches.
41. When we attempt to establish the rela-
tive merits of those different constructions,
there is an important feature which may
guide our judgment. This is the friction ;
and all stop-works whose parts move under
the control of a frictional resistance, may be
objected to; because friction, however slight
it may be, if it can be avoided, is a useless
loss of power. Besides, in all the stop-works
of this kind, it is a tooth or finger only,
which, by butting against the full part of the
stop-wheel, puts an end to the winding.
This tooth or finger is liable to break under
the strain it may be subjected to by the care-
less way in which many people wind their
watches.
42. The most common of these frictional
stop-works, though not often seen in watch-
work, has a wheel in which only three or
four teeth are cut, and all the rest of the per-
iphery left full. This wheel is screwed, with
a stop-screw, to the plate, and the end of the
barrel arbor carries a finger or tooth gearing
into it, and moving one tooth of it at each
revolution of the arbor. At the beginning
and end of the winding range the tooth butts
against the full part of the wheel's circum-
ference, and prevents further motion of the
arbor. It is evident that during all the time
betwpen two passages of the tooth the stop-
w heel is without any control whatever, and
might move round its axis by any external
shocks if the freedom of its motion was not
chocked by a stiffening spring, causing suffi-
cient friction. Sometimes the stop-wheel is
reduced to a narrow rim, and is open at the
place opposite the teeth, so that it is sprung
on a little undercut stud spared from the
substance of the barrel cover, thus gaining
its hold without any screw or spring (Fig. 8).
Fig. 8. 43. To the same
class belongs a
kind of stop-work,
forming, as it were,
an inward gear.
A concentric an-
nular groove is
cut into the barrel cover, a little undercut
at its outer edge. This groove holds an an-
nular spring, in the inner edge of which
some teeth are cut in which the stop-finger
is to gear, and to limit the winding by coming
into contact with the plain part of the spring.
The friction of this latter in its groove pre-
vents any untimely movement. It is obvious
that this arrangement is liable to the same
objections as the former one (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9. 44. Of the
other class of
stop-works, ope-
rating without
friction, we men-
tion a very ju-
dicious arrange-
ment frequently
met with in the
better class' of
Swiss and
French watches
of about fifty years of age. It consists of two
small toothed wheels gearing into each other;
the one on the barrel arbor having some
teeth more than the other one, so that the
same teeth of both wheels meet only after a
certain number of turns allowed for the
Fig. 10. winding. Both the wheels
have on their upper side,
fastened in a solid way,
a stop-piece of steel, and
these two stop-pieces,
when meeting, stop the
motion by butting in &•
right angle (Fig. 10;.
The mechanical perfec-
tion, and the reliability
of this stop-work is be-
yond any doubt; and it
only has the drawback that it requires an
additional height for the stop-pieces placed
198
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOUENAL.
over tlie two wheels, aBd it is easy to find
that by the same quantity the breadth of the
main-spring must be restrained.
Frr, 11 45. The stop -work
with the cross of Malta
(Fig. 11) is the most in
use for watch-work, and
deserves this preference.
It is too well known to
require a description. It
is true that the careless
way in which this stop-
work is often executed,
in the lower classes of
watches, is a source of
trouble and disappoint-
ment, both to the wearers of the watches and
to the repairers. It must be well under-
stood that the Malta stop-work does not
allo.v any meanness or neglect in its execu-
tion; but, well executed, it has a solidity up
to any proof. "With a judiciously arranged
set of tools there is no great difficulty in man-
ufacturing it in an irreproachable way.
46. Still, the stop-work, however well it is
made, is only an unavoidable evil, because it
complicates the mechanism, and makes it
more liable to disorders and failures of va-
rious kinds, and lastly, because it takes away a
part of the place which otherwise might
have served to increase the breadth of the
main-soring:.
For these reasons it is no wonder that the
question has been earnestly considered,
whether it would be possible to dispense en-
tirely with the stop-work, without compro-
mising the solidity or the steady rate of a
watch, and without exposing the main-spring
to any disproportionate strain. This ques-
tion requires a careful study, for the advan-
tages to be obtained from the suppression of
the stop-work are of considerable importance.
Thus it will only be necessary to investigate
whether these advantages are not outweighed
by some grave inconveniences.
47. The omission of the stop-work has
been tried in a manifold way. It is more
than twenty years since that a spring was
employed for this purpose, to the outer end
of which was riveted a piece of the same
spring, of a length equal to about one-third
of the inner diameter of the barrel. This
piece was fixed backward in the direction of
the spring, and its free end was resting
against the hook in the barrel of the ordinary
shape. This arrangement allows the spring
to be coiled up to its outermost extremity,
and the short piece riveted to it will then rest
in an oblique direction against the hook, and
prevent any fartl er winding. (Fig. 12.)
Fig. 12. This system is su-
perior to the simple
omission of the stop-
work, because it pre-
serves the spring
much more against
breaking; but it does
not protect the other parts of the movement
from the sudden strains resulting from incon-
siderate winding; a fault, though, which may
be urged against any of the kinds of stop-
work hitherto referred to.
This arrangement looks rather primitive,
but it ought not to be totally rejected. I was
desirous of obtaining a correct idea of its
merits, and constructed, about sixteen years
ago, two small ladies' watches, which had to
be very flat, with barrels of this kind. These
watches have been kept in constant use by
persons in my immediate neighborhood, and
thus I have had them under constant obser-
vation all this time ; they gave satisfaction as
to the rate of going, and none of the springs
have been broken at the present time.
I recently saw some watches of American
origin, the barrels of which were arranged
in quite a similar way, with the only differ-
ence that the piece riveted to the end of the
spring had two pivots at its free end, the one
of which moved in a hole through the bottom
of the barrel, and the other in the same way
was held in the barrel cover.
48. Some years ago a system was invented
by which the weak points of the one just
mentioned are avoided, and the stop-work
entirely dispensed with. These are the free
springs of Mr. A. Philippe. An examination
of their advantages, and of the objections
raised against them, will not be out of place
here.
These free springs are made or arranged
in such a way as to take their hold in the
barrel without the usual hook, merely by the
greater tension and strength of their outer
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
199
coil, which, for this purpose, is of about dou-
ble the thickness of the acting part of the
spr:ng. The relative thicknesses of these two
parts must be kept in such proportion that
the outer coil, always keeping a frictional hold
in the barrel, follows the winding movement,
but only when the spring has attained a cer-
tain maximum of tension. Thus, any tension
of the spring beyond this maximum is ren-
dered impossible, if the winding is continued
ever so long (Fig, 13).
49. The springs
of this kind have
been, and may be
executed, in two
different ways. Ac-
cording to the one,
the thicker part is
a part of the spring
itself; while the
other way consists
in adding to a
sj^ring of the usu-
al kind a separate piece of greater strength,
equalling in length the inner periphery of
the barrel, and forming, as it were, an elastic
bridle for the main-spring, which is attached
to it by a hook (Fig. 14). The effect of the
two dispositions, of course, is the same.
Fto. 14.
50. It is not easy to pronounce briefly an
opinion for or against the free spring ; for,
judging equitably its merits, we have to con-
sider its drawbacks and the objections raised
against it by watchmakers and repairers, and
balance them against the advantages it pro-
mises. These hitter are :
1. Greater height of barrel, allowing to
employ for a watch of the same size a broader
and thinner main-spring, which is consequent- .
ly less exposed to accidents, and gives a more
uniform traction.
2. Economy in the manufacturing of the
barrel. This advantage is, however, in a de-
gree absorbed by the higher price of the free
spring, but this price will be considerably re-
duced if the free spring should become a
regular article of trade.
3. Complete elimination of all derange-
ments of the watch, resulting from defects or
disorders of the stop-work.
4. Protection of the movement against all
injury arising from inconsiderate and rough
winding.
5. Lengthened period of daily march with
once winding, because the free springs gene-
rally are made so as to admit a tension of six
turns or more.
These advantages, especially those from 3
to 5, are of great importance, and especially
the one No. 4 has not yet been so much ap-
preciated as it ought to be.
51. The drawbacks of the free spring are
the following :
1. The absence of distinct perception,
marking the end of the winding operation.
This objection can be removed by cutting
three or four vertical grooves into the inner
cylindrical surface of the barrel, and by giv-
ing the end of the spring a slight bend out-
ward, so that it penetrates a little into one
of these grooves. If the maximum of ten-
sion of the spring is attained, the end of the
spring will no more be arrested by the hold
in the groove, and slips into the next one,
thereby giving an easily audible click, which
is a warning that the winding is completed.
This sudden little motion is at the same
time perceptible to the touch.
2. The great inequality of traction, which
must necessarily exist between the two ex-
tremities of the development of the spring.
This objection seems to be a serious one at
first sight, because the watch, if not regular-
ly wound, will continue to go till the tension
of the spring is almost exhausted ; and it can-
not be doubted that in the last hours of ex-
piring march, the watch may show some al-
teration of rate as compared with the rate it
keeps when regularly wound. But every one
200
AMERICAN HOROLOG1CAL JOURNAL.
'will admit that no watch can be expected to
perform in an irreproachable way if it is sub-
jected to such careless treatment ; besides,
let me ask, what would be the consequences
of a neglect in winding a watch provided
with the stop-work ? It would lead to a to-
tal stopping of the watch — a rather disagree-
able occurrence, especially when travelling;
and it is precisely under exceptional circum-
stances that the winding is most likely to be
forgotten. In such a case, the owner of a
watch with the free spring would have to ac
knowledge it as an advantage that his watch
maintains its march, if even with a deviation
of some minutes, which, however, would be
hardly possible with a good watch, even
under such uncommon circumstances.
. 52. Thus, the two principal objections
against the free spring are completely atten -
uated. But there are several practical diffi-
culties which make most watchmakers averse
to its employment. This is chiefly the incon-
venience of being obliged to keep an assort-
ment of free springs, besides the stock of
common springs for cases of breakage, and
the higher price of the free springs adds to
the weight of this argument. Spriogs of the
common kind, on the contrary, are cheap and
easy to procure.
These circumstances made me reflect
whether there was not some means of enjoy-
ing the incontestable advantages of the free
spring, without resigning the facility of re-
placing a broken spring of the usual system.
I think I have found out a remedy; at least
one available in a case of need. I take a
common spring of suitable breadth and thick-
ness for the barrel, and I break off a piece of
the outer end and corresponding in length
with the interior periphery of the barrel.
Out of the end of this piece I form a hook to
which the spring is hooked in the common
way, so that the detached piece extends
backward in the direction of the length of the
spring (Fig. 15).
This arrangement has the effect that the
pressure of this piece against the inside of
the barrel increases with the tension of the
spring, while with Philippe's arrangement, the
traction of the spring diminishes the friction
of the cuter turn; and this is the reason why
this latter contrivance requires the detached
pieces stronger than the spring itself. In the
modification just mentioned, a piece of the
Fig. 15.
main spring itself is sufficient; and its resist-
ance may be increased by the grooves in the
barrel, and by a projection punched at the
end of the piece, and lessened by shortening
the same. I think a spring arranged in this
way would soon make friends, because it
offers all the advantages of the free spring,
without its difficulties for the practical re-
pairer. At any rate, it offers the means of
providing a watch, in which a free spring is
broken, with a new spring in suitable condi-
tions, from the ordinary stock of springs on
hand.
COuRECTION.
Editor Hobological Joubnal :
Kindly permit me to correct the reading of
my communication of December last.
Page 127, Fig. 1 — n1 A and n! A should be
joined by dotted lines, indicating the line of
centres, viz : centre of formation and genera-
ting circles.
Then page 126, column the second, line
third, it should read thus: ... .its radius
forming, with the line of centre, the angles
o nl A, o ri1 A, o n% A.
Also, page 128, column first, formula, fourth
line, it should read thus:
c = line of centres,
that being the term employed.
Yours, &c.
J. Herrmann.
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
201
HEAT.
NUMBER SEVEN.
HARDENING OF STEEL VARIOUS METHODS OF AP-
PLYING THE HEAT VARIOUS METHODS OF COOL-
ING PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CRACKING CAUSES
OF STEEL BECOMING HARD STEEL LARGER WHEN
HARD VARIOUS METHODS OF TEMPERING
VARIOUS METHODS OF COLORING AND BLUING
THE OIL BATH, SAND BATH, MERCURY BATH, ETC.
"We have now to consider the important
process of hardening steeL and the changes
produced thereby. It is not requisite that
the hardener should be a chemist, but some
slight acquaintance with chemistry, or of the
action of substances upon each other, will be
extremely serviceable to him. To be un-
qualified in this respect will be laboring in
the dark; a successful result may often be
obtained, but it will be very imperfectly
known how it happened, and it will afford no
valuable instruction for the future. There
are too many who entertain the opinion that
they have nothing to learn, and in effect say,
that having served an apprenticeship to their
business they know everything. These we
do not attempt to convince, but the prudent
artisan, whose first care is generally to pro-
vide himself with tools adapted to his labors,
we would ask to improve his knowledge of
the nature of the materials from which they
are made ; the proper choice and manage-
ment of which constitutes the first step
towards success in mechanical pursuits.
The degree of heat necessary to harden
steel differs with the different kinds. The
best kinds only require a low red heat — the
lowest heat necessary to effect the desired
purpose being the most advantageous, and to
impart to it an extra portion of heat must
partly destroy its most valuable properties,
and for this misfortune there is no remedy;
for if cast steel is overheated it becomes
brittle, and can never be restored to its origi-
nal quality; therefore it will be quite incap-
able of sustaining a cutting edge, but will
chip or crumble away when applied to the
work. There are various ways of applying
heat to articles when they require to be hard-
ened. The methods to be adopted will, of
course, depend upon the shape and size of
the articles, also upon the quantity required
to be operated upon at the same time; for
in some instances a large quantity can be
heated and hardened as expeditiously as a
single article. Sometimes it is requisite to
heat the articles in the midst of the fuel of a
hollow fire; at others it is necessary to heat
them in an open fire; and sometimes it is
desirable to enclose and surround them with
carbon in a sheet-iron box, and heat the
whole in a hollow fire, or a suitable furnace;
and in some instances it is more convenient
to heat them in red hot lead. A more uni-
form degree of heat can be given to some
articles by heating them in red hot lead than
by any other means. A gas flame, or the flame
of a candle, or a spirit lamp, is very conveni-
ent for heating small articles, and some
articles may be sufficiently heated by placing
them between the red hot jaws of a pair of
tongs. Sometimes it is necessary to insert a
piece of iron pipe in the midst of the igni-
ted fuel of the fire, and then place the articles
in the pipe; clock pinions, and long, small
arbors and broaches being generally hardened
in this manner. All bright articles, which
are made of steel, and require to be hardened,
are the better for being heated previous to
immersion in contact with carbon. To sup-
ply carbon to the surface of steel articles,
they may be enclosed in a sheet-iron box,
and surrounded on all sides with either wood
or animal charcoal; the whole will require
to be placed in a furnace, or hollow fire, and
heated to redness; but if the hardener be un-
acquainted with the conducting power of the
charcoal he will be apt to draw the box out
of the fire too soon. To make sure, all the
articles should be examined or tested in some
way to see that they are at the proper heat
before they are immersed in the water.
It is obvious that the colder the water the
more effectually it hardens the steel; and the
more especially when the steel is immersed
suddenly, and a rapid movement given to it
whilst it is becoming cool; but when fresh
cold water is used there is always great dan-
ger of the steel cracking. The softer the
water is, the less is the liability of the steel to
crack; and water at a temperature of 60° is
said to be the most favorable to hardening
without the risk of cracking. When steel is
required to be extremely hard, it may be
202
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
quenched in mercury; but it is obvious that
this fluid can only be used on a small scale.
Brinish liquids, or water charged with com-
mon salt, produce rather more hardness
than plain water. We remember a few years
ago we had occasion to make a small drill
very hard. It was in the hottest of the sum-
mer months, and we quenched the drill in
what we supposed to be a glass of water that
was convenient. The drill proved to be much
harder than when quenched in oil, as we had
previously done, and bored through several
pieces of thin hard steel without materially
dulling the edge, and was the cause of much
remark among those who witnessed the oper-
ation. It turned ont, however, that what we
supposed to be pure water was in reality lem-
onade, which the workmen had been drink-
ing, and to this cause we attributed the extra
hardness of the drill. Ever since then lem-
onade has been used for such purposes when
it can conveniently be had, and that too
with the very best results. All kinds of
small springs may be advantageously hard-
ened in oil, or pure soft water, with a small
quantity of oil floating on the top. Oil or
tallow appears to give a certain amount of
toughness to steel in hardening which is not
attained by any other method or liquid.
It may not be generally known that the
hardening of steel does not necessarily de-
pend on the immersion of the metal in a
liquid of any kind, but may be effected
equally as well by the application of cold;
as, for instance, watchmakers harden very
small drills by suddenly drawing them
through the air after being heated ; or when
we leave a thin piece of red-hot steel between
a large hammer and the face of an anvil, the
steel becomes as hard as when quenched in a
liquid. Before putting any article in the fire
to heat, before hardening, it is necessary to
examine the shape in order to know which
way it will require to be immersed in the
water so as to lessen the risk of its cracking or
bending; every kind of article requiring to be
dipped in a particular way, according to its
shape. For instance, if there be a stout part
and a thin part in the article, the stoutest
part should always enter the water first, as it
causes the steel to cool more uniformly, and
lessens the risk of fracture; because if the
thinnest part of the article be allowed to en-
ter first it will become cool much sooner than
the stout part; and the stout part contracts,
by the loss of heat, after the thin part is
fixed; the thin part, in its then hard and
brittle state, cannot give, consequently it
breaks; or, if it does not break at the time of
hardening, it is held in such a state of ten-
sion or strain that it is ready to break when
applied to the work.
Drills and all kinds of tools and work that
are only hardened at the ends, and which are
only partially dipped into the water, should
never be held still when they are becoming
cold; but should, after they are dipped to
the required depth, have a sudden vertical or
other movement given to them. When the
water cools them across in a straight line, it
causes the hardened'part to have a tendency
to tear from the soft part; but whether the
steel breaks asunder or not, or whether there
are signs of fracture or not, this tearing of
the particles from each other when the hard-
ening terminates in'a strict line, must always,
with highly carbonized steel, more or less
take place, when it is known that hardened
steel occupies more space than soft steel, and
that the density of the steel is different in the
two states. It is pretty generally known to
those who are much employed in the process
of hardening steel, and to those in the habit
of fitting up various kinds of steel work re-
quiring great nicety, that the hardening of
steel often increases its dimensions; so much
so, that pieces of work fitted in a soft state
will not fit when hardened, and the workman
has to resort to the process of grinding to
make the work fit. Some explanation of this
phenomenon is given in No. 4 of these arti-
cles, under the head of permanent elongation
of metals, and change of the zero point in
thermometers.
Many theories upon the cause of steel be-
coming hard by the process of heating and
suddenly cooling it, have been formed. It is
believed by some that the hardness of steel is
caused by the compression of the whole of
the particles into a denser state; and in con-
firmation of this, they say that steel always
looks closer and finer in the grain after being
hardened. Now, if this was the only cause of
steel becoming hard, how is it that the steel
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
203
gets larger in dimensions ? It is quite reason-
able to suppose, if the particles of the hard-
ened parts of the steel are removed to a
greater distance from each other, that the
steel would look considerabley more open and
coarser in the grain; and consequently it may
be inquired if it is not the compression of the
whole of the particles into a denser state that
is the cause of steel looking closer in its tex-
ture after hardening. The answer is, if we
accept the theory that it is the crystallization
of the carbon which causes the hardness in
the steel, that the carbon expands in the act
of crystallization in a similar manner that
water expands by extreme cold in crystalliz-
ing into ice, and fills up every pore or crev-
ice, and gives the steel the appearance of be-
ing closer and more solid.
Such is a slight sketch of the causes that
lead to the hardening of steel, and although
much more might be said, we do not think it
to be necessary to entangle the reader with a
lot of theories on the subject, although it may
be necessary for his amusement, and for the
exercise of sound judgment, to occasionally
glance at them in treating fully the purely
mechanical operations.
The tempering of steel, after being hard-
ened, is also of the greatest importance.
Large articles are usually tempered by apply-
ing heat to them till their surfaces present a
certain color, according to the degree of
hardness required; but when a large number
of small articles are required to be tempered,
it will be too slow a process to temper them
by color, and a more expeditious method
must be adopted. A very convenient way of
uniformly heating a large quantity of small
articles at once, no matter how irregular
their shape, providing the heat is not applied
too suddenly, is to put them into a suitable
iron or copper vessel, with as much tallow or
cold oil as will just cover them, and then to
place the whole over a small fire, and slowly
heat the oil until a sufficient heat is given to
the articles for the temper required.
It may perhaps be well to remind the
young beginner that the temperature of the
oil may be raised to 600° of heat, or rather
more, and consequently any temperature be-
low a red heat may be given to the articles
by the heated oil. Certain degrees of tem-
perature may be estimated by the following
circumstances: When the oil is observed to
smoke, it indicates the same temperature as
a straw color, and if measured by a thermom-
eter, will be about 450°. When the smoke be-
comes more abundant, and of a darker color,
it indicates a temper equal to a brown, and
the oil will measure 500° by the thermometer.
If the heat be continued so that the oil will
yield a black smoke, and still more abundant,
this will denote a purple temper, and the oil
will contain about 530° of heat. The next
degree of heat may be known by the oil tak-
ing fire, if a piece of lighted paper be pre-
sented to it, but yet not so hot as to burn
when the lighted paper is withdrawn. The
temperature of the oil at this stage will be
about 580°. The next degree of heat may be
known by the oil taking fire and continuing
to burn. This is the temper best suited for
most kinds of springs,' and is the temper clock-
makers use mostly for pinions and arbors.
Any single article, to save trouble of heating
in a vessel, may be smeared over with oil and
held over a clear fire, or over a piece of hot
iron, or a candle, or flame of almost any kind,
when there is no smoke. It formerly was a
common, and also a very good custom, to
harden small drills and taps in the flame of a
candle with a blow pipe, quench them in the
grease of the candle, and burn off the grease
till the desired temper was attained.
Although the above method is a reliable
process for tempering steel articles equally
throughout, however irregular may be their
shape, still it is often required, in fine work,
to temper the articles so as to leave the color
visible and regular on the surface ; and also it
is often required to give soft articles a blue or
other color by way of ornament. Certain
articles can thus be colored by skilfully hold-
ing them over a hot iron, or spirit lamp; but
when the articles are of irregular shape, it
becomes very difficult to impart a regular
color to them in this manner. The sand bath
is frequently used for this purpose, and, in
the hands of skilful operators, good results
are obtained; but a neater and more reliable
method has been introduced, and which we
have ourselves used with great success; and
we recommend it to all who require to blue
irregular-shaped pieces of work.
204
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
The following experiment is simple, and
clearly exhibits and illustrates this manner of
tempering : Let a plate of steel, finely
polished, be so laid as to float on the surface
of a bath of mercury, in which plunge the
bulb of a thermometer 600° Fahr. No
change of color will be visible on the steel
until the mercury has risen to 430°, and then
it will be so faint as only to be perceptible by
comparison with a plate that has not been
heated. At 450° the color will be a fine pale
straw, which, as the heat increases, will be-
come deeper, and successive changes will
take place until it be heated up to the boil-
ing point of mercury, which degree of heat
can be attained with a good argand gas
burner.
Such is a review of the effects of heat in
hardening and softening metals. Further
practical directions might easily be multi-
plied, but the necessity for much further
minuteness of detail upon most of the pro-
cesses will be removed by a little observation,
experience, and perseverance, which we wish
all our young friends to cultivate. Those
who postpone perseverance by satisfying
themselves with the hope that length of prac-
tice will perfect them, will in the end regret
their delusion, and may ineffectually try to
recover their loss, when habitual languor, and
other injurious habits, have rendered the
mind averse to observe, and the hand unable
to perform.
-o-
BKASS ALLOYS.
"We shall continue the subject of metals in
the condition of alloys, somewhat in the order
at their importance in our art.
Brass being more largely demanded in our
e >nstructions will claim the first consideration.
So metal, either simple or compound, iron
excepted, enters so largely into mechanical
c >nstruction as brass. Scarcely any machine,
large or small, is completed without some
demand being made on this useful alloy of
copper and zinc.
Copper, one of its constituents, was known
to the ancients, and derived its name from
the island of Cyprus, where it was first
wrought by the Greeks. Before the discovery.
of malleable iron it was the chief ingredient
in the manufacture of domestic utensils and
instruments of war. Copper is largely met
with in the metallic state, but still more
largely in combination with the metalloids,
oxygen, sulphur, and arsenic. The sulphurets
are the chief source of supply for commer-
cial demands. Copper is very malleable and
ductile, and may be drawn into fine wire or
beaten in thin leaves — its tenacity being only
inferior to iron. It has a peculiar taste, and
by friction evolves an odor peculiar to itself
and somewhat disagreeable ; at a white heat
it passes off in vapor, which, in the open* air,
burns with a green flame. At ordinary tem-
peratures this metal does not oxidize in dry
air, but quickly changes in moist air; it then
becoming covered with a strong adherent
coat of carbonate of copper. Heated to red-
ness in the air, copper becomes oxidized — a
black scale covering its surface. Dilute sul-
phuric or muriatic acid scarcely acts upon it,
but dilute nitric acid dissolves it readily.
Sulphate of copper, or " blue vitriol," is the
most important salt of copper ; it occurs in
large blue crystals, which are soluble in four
parts cold or two of boiling water. This salt
is the source of several blue and green colors
used by dyers and calico printers, and in some
kinds of writing ink. Ink of this character
has the inconvenience that in writing with
steel pens metallic copper is precipitated on
the steel, and clogs the pen. This salt is also
a powerful preservator of animal substances,
which when imbued with it and dried become
unaltered.
Zinc, the other constituent of brass, is first
mentioned as a distinct metal by Paracelsus,
but it appears to have been known in China
and in India from an early period. It has a
bluish, white color, and its recent fracture
presents a brilliant crystalline surface. It is
somewhat brittle at ordinary temperatures,
but when heated to between 212° and 300° it
becomes malleable and ductile, and may be
rolled or hammered out without fracture, and
what is remarkable, retains its malleability
when cold. The sheet-zinc of commerce is
made in this way. If the heat be increased
to about 450° the metal again becomes brit-
tle, and may be reduced to powder. At a
bright red heat zinc boils and volatilizes, and
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
205
if air be admitted burns -with a vivid, whitish
blue light, generating the oxide, a white,
flocculent matter, called flour of zinc, or phil-
osopher's wool.
Chloride of zinc combines with sal-ammo-
niac to form double salts. Zinc dissolved in
hydrochloric acid, with an equivalent of sal-
ammoniac added, is Tiseful in tinning and soft-
soldering copper, iron, etc.
The term brass is usually applied to the
yellow alloy of copper with about half its
weight of zinc, commonly called yellow brass ;
but copper with about one-ninth its weight of
tin is the brass of which ordnance are cast,
called gun metal ; and similar alloys used for
the brasses or bearings of machinery are cal-
led hard brass, and when employed for statues,
medals, and articles of virtu, are called
bronzes. We shall confine ourselves, in this
article, to the alloy of copper and zinc only;
the harder alloys being almost entirely foreign
to our trade. In the language of the foundry,
a pound of copper is taken as the standard
in speaking of proportions. Yellow brass,
they will tell you, is 6 to 8 oz. of zinc ; mean-
ing 6 to 8 oz. of zinc to the pound of copper.
In the following list of alloys the numbers at
the beginning of each paragraph denote the
ounces of zinc to every pound of copper.
| to \ oz. is added to copper which is to be
cast, for in its pure state it is difficult to get
pure copper to make sound castings. The
compound is frequently made by adding 4 oz.
of brass to every 2 cr 3 pounds of copper.
1 to \\ oz. forms gilding metal for common
jewelry. The common formula is 4 parts
copper to one of calamine brass, or 1 lb. cop-
per with 6 oz. brass.
3 oz. — Red sheet brass, or 5| copper and 1
zinc.
3 to 4 oz. — Bath metal, pinchbeck, Maun-
heim gold, oroide, or whatever else for a
name the gullible public will swallow. It
resembles inferior jeweller's gold alloyed with
copper; some contains a little tin.
6 oz. — This brass will bear soldering.
Bristol brass is said to be of this proportion.
8 oz. — Ordinary brass; less adapted to
soldering than 6 oz., as it is more fusible.
This is a brass patented in 1781 by Emerson.
It is the common ingot brass, made by simple
fusion of the two metals.
9 oz. — This is one of the extremes of
i Muntz's patent sheathing.
10§ oz. — Is Muntz's metal; or 40 zinc, 60
' copper. The patentee's statement is that any
proportion between the extremes of 50 zinc
and 50 copper, and 37 zinc and 63 copper,
will roll and work at the red heat, but 40 to
60 is preferred. The metal is cast into ingots,
heated to a red heat, into ship's bolts and
other fastenings, rolled into sheathing, etc.
12 oz. — Spelter solder for copper and iron
is sometimes made in this proportion; for
brass work the metals are usually mixed in
equal parts.
12 oz. — Pale yellow, suitable for dipping in
acids.
16 oz. — Soft spelter solder, fit for ordinary
brass work. About 14 lbs. of each are melted
together and poured into an ingot mould with
cross ribs, which indent it into squares of
about 2 lbs. weight. Much of the zinc is lost
in fusing and casting, so that the ultimate
proportion is less than 16 oz.
The lumps are afterwards heated nearly to
redness on a charcoal fire, and are quickly
broken up in an iron mortar. If the heat be
too great, the solder forms into a cake, or
coarse lumps, and becomes tarnished. At a
proper heat it becomes nearly granulated ;
is passed through a sieve and remains a
bright yellow color ; 16| oz. is Hamilton's and
Parker's mosaic gold, which is dark colored
when first cast, but after dipping assumes a
beautiful golden tint ; when cooled and brok-
en, the yellowness disappears. The best pro-
portions are about 16J to 17 oz. to the pound.
32 oz., or 2 zinc to 1 copper. —A bluish white
brittle alloy, so crystalline that it may be
pounded cold in a mortar.
128 oz., or 2 oz. copper to every pound of
zinc. — A hard crystalline metal, differing but
little from zinc, but more tenacious. It is
sometimes used for polishing taps.
The alloys from 8 to 16 oz. are extensively
used for dipping, as in the various brass ar-
ticles used for furniture; the metal being first
annealed before it is scoured or cleaned, or
the acids, lacquers, or bronzes applied. The
ordinary range of good yellow brass, that
files and turns well, is from 4| to 9 oz ; with
additional zinc it becomes harder and more
crystalline, and with less, more tenacious. Up
206
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
to 8 or 10 oz. the alloys maintain their mal-
leability and ductility. The red color of cop-
per merges into that of yellow brass at 4 to
5 oz., and remains but little altered up to 8
or 10 oz ; after this it becomes whiter.
Owing to the very volatile and inflammable
nature of zinc in the furnace, these propor-
tions must not be strictly taken, for whatever
weight of the two constituents be put in the
crucible there will always be a rapid, and, to
a certain extent, uncontrollable waste of zinc.
The native ore (carbonate) of zinc, called
Calamine is not infrequently used for the
manufacture of glass. For this purpose the
native Calamine is broken and ground in a
mill; after being calcined, the galena (lead
ore) contained in it is separated by washing;
it is then mixed with about \ part of char-
coal, the mixture put into large cylindrical
crucibles, with alternate layers of copper, cut
in small pieces, or in the form of shot ; pow-
dered charcoal is then covered over the
whole, and a cover luted on, and placed in
the furnace — the zinc of the carbonate unit-
ing with the copper, without assuming, ap-
parently, the metallic form. We are largely
indebted to Mr. Holtzapffel in his work on
" Mechanical Manipulations" for the details of
a number of interesting experiments for the
best methods of forming alloys of copper and
zinc. " The zinc was added to the copper in
various ways ; namely in solid lumps, thin
sheets hammered into balls, poured in when
melted in an iron ladle, and all these both
while the crucible was in the fire and after
its removal from the same. The surface of
the copper was in some cases covered with
broken glass, or charcoal, and in others
uncovered, but all to no purpose ; as from \
to i the zinc was consumed with most vexa-
tious brilliancy, according to the modes of
treatment ; and these methods were therefore
abandoned as hopeless. I was the more
diverted from the above attempts, from the
well-known fact that the greatest loss always
occurs in the first mixing of the two metals,
and which the founder in general is anxious
to avoid. Thus, when a very small quantity
of zinc is required, as for so-called copper
castings, about 1 oz. of brass are added to
every 2 or 3 lbs. of copper. And in ordinary
work a pot of brass, weighing 40 lbs., is made
up of 10, 20, or 30 lbs. of old brass, and § pi
the remainder of copper. These are first
melted. A short time before pouring, the ^
of the new metal, or zinc, is plunged in when
the temperature of the mass is such that it
just avoids sticking to the iron rod with which
it is stirred." In forming an alloy of 2.75
copper with 1 zinc, the proportions of which
require to be very carefully preserved, that
alloy was found to expand equally with the
speculum metal to which it had to be soldered.
Lord Rosse found that by employing a furnace .
deeper than usual, and covering the metal with
a layer of charcoal powder 2 inches thick,
the loss was reduced to the minimum, and
almost exactly the 180th each casting.
Yellow brass may, by rolling, have imparted
to it a good degree of elasticity, and has, to
some small extent, been used for the springs
of clocks; such springs after a time lose their
elasticity and remain coiled. This is prob-
ably owing to the fact, that the zinc, which is
a component part of the brass, has a perpet-
ual inclination to assume its normal crystal-
line condition, and this tendency undoubtedly
is the cause of the " rotting " of brass when
exposed to acid fumes, or even a damp
atmosphere for a considerable time. When
kept perfectly dry, or protected by a coat of
gilding, the fibrous condition imparted to
cast brass by rolling, drawing, or hammering,
undergoes no perceptible change. For almost
every purpose in our art, brass is required to
be quite hard, which hardness is best impart-
ed to it by hammering. In rolled brass the
particles seem to elude compression, in some
considerable degree, by flowing in front of
the pressure rollers, in the same manner that
water is forced out of the fabric by a clothes-
wringer — the metal being more elongated
than compressed.
On the contrary, in hammering, the metal
seems to be driven down upon itself, compres-
sing and hardening the part directly beneath
the hammer; the repetition of the strokes
forcing the hardened particles downward into
the softer metal below, and so on till the
whole mass may be very closely driven to-
gether without very much enlarging its area;
slight, oft-repeated strokes, with a planishing
(flat-faced) hammer, will best produce the
maximum hardness.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
207
LIGHT.
NUMBER FOUR.
Upon the refraction of light is based the
whole science of optics, and the construction
of lenses. A lens is a portion of a refracting
substance which is bounded by curved sur-
faces ; if the surface be spherical the lens is
called a spherical lens. Lenses are divided
into two classes, one of which renders parallel
rays convergent, the other of which renders
such rays divergent. Each class comprises
three kinds of lenses, which are named as
follows :
CONVERGING LENSES.
1. Double convex, with both surfaces con-
vex.
2. Plano-convex, with one surface plane,
the other convex.
3. Concavo-convex (meniscus), with aeon-
cave and convex surface, the convex being
the most strongly curved.
DIVERGING LENSES.
1. Double concave, with both surfaces
concave.
2. Plano-concave, with one surface plane,
the other concave.
3. Convexo-concave, with a convex and
concave surface, the concave surface being
the most strongly curved.
A straight line drawn through the centre
of the lines, and perpendicular to its two sur-
faces is the principal axis of the lens. A lu-
minous beam falling on a convex lens, parallel
to the axis, has its constituent rays brought
to intersection at a point in the axis behind
the lens. This point is the principal focus of
the lens, and this principal focus is the focus
of parallel rays.
If a luminous point be placed in the focus
of a convex lens, the rays from it will pass out
on the opposite side as parallel rays. If the
luminous point approach the lens, the rays
will pass out on the opposite side, till diver-
gent. Producing them backward they
will intersect on that side of the lens on which
stands the luminous point. The focus here
is virtual. A body of sensible magnitude
placed between the focus and the lens would
have a virtual image. "When an obj ct of
sensible dimensions is placed anywhere be-
yond the principal focus, a real image of the
object will be formed in the air behind the
lens. The image may be either greater or less
than the object in size, but the image will
always be inverted. The position of the image
and the object are, as before, convertible. In
the case of concave lenses the images are
always virtual.
A spherical lens is incompetent to bring all
the rays that fall upon it to the same focus.
The rays that pass through the lens near its
circumference are more refracted than those
which pass through the central portions, and
they intersect earlier. Where perfect defini-
tion is required it is therefore usual, though
at the expense of illumination, to make use of
the central rays only. This difference of focal
distance between the central and circumfer-
ential rays, is called the spherical aberration
of the lens. A lens so curved as to bring all
the rays to the same focus — is called aplanatic;
a spherical lens cannot be rendered aplanatic.
As in the case of spherical mirrors, spherical
lenses have their caustic curves (diacaustics)
formed by the intersection of the refracted
rays.
VISION AND THE EYE.
The eye is a compound lens, consisting of
three principal parts: the aqueous humor, the
crystalline lens, and the vitreous humor. The
aqueous humor is held in front of the eye by
the cornea, a transparent horny capsule, re-
sembling a watch-glass in shape. Behind
the aqueous humor, and immediately in front
of the crystalline lens, is the iris, which sur-
rounds the pupil; then follows the lens and
the vitreous humor, which last constitutes
the main body of the eye. The average diam-
eter of the human eye is 10.9 lines.* Where
the optic nerve enters the eye from behind,
it divides into a series of filaments, which
are woven together to form the retina, a deli-
cate net- work of nerve tissue spread as a
screen at the back of the eye. The retina
rests upon a black, pigment, which reduces
to a minimum all internal reflection. By
means of the iris the size of the pupil may be
made to vary within certain limits. When
the light is feeble the pupil expands, when it
is intense the pupil contracts; thus the
• A lino is one-twelfth of an inch.
208
AMEBICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
quantity of light admitted to the eye is, to
some extent regulated, the pupil also diminish-
es slightly when the eye is fixed upon a near
object, and expands when fixed upon a dis-
tant one. The pupil appears black, partly
because of the internal coating, but mainly
for another reason. Could we illuminate the
retina, and see at the same time the illumi-
nated spot, the pupil would appear bright;
but the principle of reversibility, so often
spoke of here, comes into play; the light of
the illuminated spot in returning outward re-
traces its steps and finally falls upon the
source of illumination. Hence to receive the
returning rays, the observer's eye ought to be
placed between the source and the retina; but
in this position it would cut off the illumina-
tion. If the light be thrown into the eye by
a mirror pierced with a small oi'ifice, or with
a small portion of the silvering removed, then
the eye of the observer placed behind the
mirror, and looking through the orifice, may
see the illuminated retina. The pupil under
these circumstances glows like a live coal.
This is the principle of the ophthalmoscope, an
instrument by which the interior of the eye
may be examined, and its condition in health
or disease noted. In the case of albinos, or
of white rabbits, the black pigment is absent
and the pupil is seen red, by the light
which passes through the sclerotica, or white
of the eye; when this light is cutoff the pupil
appears black. In some animals, in place of
the black pigment, is a reflecting membrane,
the tapelum. It is the light reflected by the
tapetum which causes a cat's eye to shine in
partial darkness. The light in this case is
not internal, for if the darkness be total the
cat's eye will not shine. The photographer's
camera is but an enlarged eye, the ground
glass upon which the inverted image is re-
ceived taking the place of the retina in that
organ. For perfectly distinct vision it is
necessary that the image upon the retina
should be perfectly defined; in other words,
that the rays from every point of the object
looked at should converge to a point on the
retina.
THE PUNOTUM CAECUM.
The spot where the optic nerve enters the
eye, and from which it ramifies to form the
net-work of the retina, is insensible to the ac-
tion of light. An object whose image falls
upon that spot is not seen. The image of the
moon, a clock dial, or a human face, may be
caused to fall upon this "blind spot," in
which case the object is not visible. This
can be illustrated by laying two white wafers
on black paper, or two black ones on white
paper, with an interval of 3 inches between
them. Bring the right eye at a height of 10
or 1 1 inches exactly over the left hand wafer,
so that the line joining the two eyes shall be
parallel to the line joining the two wafers.
Closing the left eye, and looking steadily with
the right at the left-hand wafer, the right-
hand one ceases to be visible. In this posi-
tion, the image falls upon the " blind spot "
of the right eye. If the eye be turned in the
least degree to the right or left, or if the dis-
tance between it and the paper be augmented
or diminished, the wafer is immediately seen.
Preserving these proportions as to size and
distance, objects of far greater dimensions
than the wafer may have their images thrown
upon the blind spot and be obliterated. The eye
is by no means a perfect optical instrument.
It suffers from spherical observation; a scat-
tered luminosity, more or less strong, always
surrounding the defined images of luminous
objects upon the retina. By this luminosity
the image of the ooject is sensibly increased
in size; but with ordinary illumination the
scattered light is too feeble to be noticed.
When, however, bodies are intensely illumi-
nated, more especially when the bodies are
small, so that a slight extension of their
images upon the retina becomes noticeable,
such bodies appear larger than they really
are. Thus the crescent moon seems to belong
to a larger sphere than the dimmer map of
the satellite which it seems to clasp. This
augmentation of the true size of the optical
image is called irradiation. Almost every
eye contains bodies, more or less opaque,
distributed through its humors. The so-
called muscos volitantes are of this character;
so are the black dots, snake-like lines,
beads, and rings, which are strikingly visible
in many eyes. Were the area of the pupil
contracted to a point, such bodies might pro-
duce considerable annoyance; but because of
the width of the pupil, the shadows which
these small bodies would otherwise cast upon
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
209
the retina are practically obliterated, except
■when they are very near the back of the eye.
It is only necessary to look at the firma-
ment through a pin-hole to give these shad-
ows greater definition on the retina.
If the letters of a book, held at some dis-
tance from the eye, be looked at through a
gauze veil placed near the eye, it will be
found that when the letters are seen dis-
tinctly the veil is seen indistinctly; conversely,
if the veil is seen distinctly, the letters will
be dimly seen. This demonstrates that the
images of objects, at different distances from
the eye. cannot be defined at the same time
upon the retina. "Were the eye a rigid mass,
like a glass lens, incapable of change of form,
distinct vision would only be possible at one
particular distance. We know, however, that
the eye does possess a power of adjustment
for different distances. This adjustment is
effected, not by pushing the front of the eye
backward or forward, but by changing the
curvature of the crystalline lens. The image
of a candle reflected from the front or rear
surface of this lens, is seen to diminish when
the eye changes as from distant to near
vision, thus proving the curvature of the lens
to be greater for near than for distant vision.
The pi incipul refraction endured by the rays
of light iu passing through the eye occurs at
the surface of the cornea when the passage
is from air to a much denser medium. The
refraction at the cornea alone would cause
the rays to intersect at a point nearly half an
inch behind the retina. The convergence is
augmented by the crystalline lens, which
brings the point of intersection forward to
the retina itself. A line drawn through the
centre of the cornea, and the centre of the
whole eye to the retina, is called the axis of
the eye. The length of the axis, even in
youth, is sometimes too small; in other words,
the retina is too near the cornea, so that the
refracting part of the organ is unable to con-
verge the rays to a point upon the retina. In
old age also the refracting surfaces of the eye
are .slightly flattened, and thus rendered in-
competent to refract the rays sufficiently. In
both cases the images would be formed be-
hind the retina, instead of upon it, and hence
the vision is indistinct. A slight defect of
this kind is remedied by holding the object
at a distance from the eye, so as to lessen the
divergence of the rays. When this defect is
considerable, a convex lens placed in front of
the eye helps to produce the necessary con-
vergence. This is the use of spectacles.
The axis of the eye is sometimes too long,
or the curvature of the refracting surfaces
may be too great; in either case, the rays
entering the pupil are converged so as to
intersect before reaching the retina. This
defect is remedied by holding the object very
near the eye so as to increase the divergence
of the rays, or by interposing before the eye
a concave lens, which produces the necessary
divergence, thus throwing back the point of
intersection to the retina. The eye is not
adjusted at the same time for equally distant
horizontal and vertical objects. The distance
of distinct vision is greater for horizontal
lines than for vertical ones. Draw with ink
two lines at right angles to each other, one
vertical and one horizontal; one of them is
seen distinctly black and sharp, the other ap-
pears indistinctly, as if drawn with lighter
ink. Adjust the eye for the latter line, and the
former will then appear indistinct. This dif-
ference in the curvature of the eye in two
directions may sometimes become so great as
to render the application of cylindrical lenses
necessary for its correction.
These, and other imperfections of the eye,
make the subject of the selection of spectacles
a matter of no small moment. Wells, in his
treatise on this subject, says : " I have no
hesitation in saying, that the empirical, hap-
hazard plan of selection generally employed
by opticians, is too frequently attended by the
worst consequences; and that eyes are often
permanently injured, which might, by skilful
treatment, have been preserved for years.
For this reason I must strongly urge upon
medical men the necessity, not only of exam-
ining the state of the eyes, and ascertaining
the nature of the affection, but of going even
a step farther than this, and determining with
accuracy the number of the*required lens.
For this purpose they must possess a case of
trial glasses, containing a complete assortment
of concave, convex, and cylindrical lenses,
glasses of corresponding number being kept
by the optician, and give the patient a pre-
scription for spectacles. By doing so the
210
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOTJBNAL.
patient is assured of being furnished with
suitable and proper glasses,"
MANUFACTURE OF LENSES.
The almost universal necessity for spectacle
lenses, of every variety of curvature suited to
the endless diversity of defects to which the
eye is subject, opens a large field to cominer-
cial enterprise. Probably no form of lens
comes into more general use than those par-
ticularly designed for spectacles, and the im-
mense quantities used would astonish those
not somewhat familiar with the business.
Almost the whole supply was derived from
Europe until recently, none being manufac-
tured here, except a few of the finer kinds,
for astronomical and optical instruments.
These, commanding almost any price, could
be profitably made by hand labor; but the
smaller aud cheap spectacle eyes were obliged
to wait for the advent of machinery. We
know of no lenses manufactured by machin-
ery in this country except at the establish-
ment of Messrs. Surdam & White, Harlem
Building, New York. English or French
plate-glass, entirely free from tint of blue,
green, or yellow, when viewed through its
edge, is used for these lenses, first being
broken up into small squares of a size suitable
for the e}res of spectacles. The first rough
grinding is done in cast-iron forms, or
basins, varying in size according to the focus
desired. Shallow concave disks, of 20 inches
diameter, are used for the lenses of long
focus, and diminishing in size and increasing
in depth, as the focus is to be shorter; the
smallest, of perhaps 6 inches diameter, being
used for a focus of 2 or 3 inches. Fitting into
these concaves are segments of iron spheres
of curvature exactly corresponding. These
segments are given a peculiar circular and
horizontal motion by an eccentric finger
attached to a vertical rotating spindle placed
over each of these grinding mills, and actuated
by a band and pulley from a common
shaft.
The convex surface of this cast-iron grinder
is then thickly coated with soft pitch, into
which are pressed as many of the little squares
of glass as will cover its whole surface, and is
then inverted into its cast-iron concave,
whi e the pitch is yet soft and yielding — the
whole mass taking: the exact curvature of the
matrix. When the pitch becomes hard
the eccentric finger is attached, the band
slips on the pulley, and the mass commences
its eccentric revolutions. Emery and water
are then supplied, and the process of grind-
ing goes on till the glass squares are all
ground to the dead surface ; the coarser
emery is then washed out, and a finer grade
supplied and the grinding goes on ; again
they are washed carefully, and an impalpable
flower of emery applied. By this time, the
surfaces become semi-polished, but the final
exquisite gloss must still be given, which is
done by substituting for the iron concave, one
of felt, and supplying rouge and water instead
of emery.
Some fifty of these grinding and polish-
ing mills, arranged in suitable frames, and
when all are busily in motion, look wonder-
fully industrious and business-like. This
process finishes, as you will notice, only one
side of the lens; tbe pitch is then softened,
the half finished lenses turned over, the pol-
ished side imbedded in the pitch, and the
second surface undergoes the same process ;
this is the construction of the convex lenses.
Concave lenses are ground by fixing the
pieces of glass to the concave bed, and the
moving convex disk does the grinding and
polishing. The same process is used in
grinding the lenses for stereoscopic instru-
ments, only larger squares of glass are used.
Great care and experience are necessary in
washing and grading the grinding emery,
and also in preparing the rouge for the
final polish. "Brazilian pebbles," "Califor-
nia diamonds," and all the various pebbles,
of whatever name, undergo the same pro-
cess, first being sawed in slips of the proper
thickness ; of the long focus, eight or ten
dozen are ground at once, but of
the short focus — cataract glasses — no more
than four or six can be done at one
time. All the various forms of lenses — men-
iscus, plano-convex, concavo-convex (peri-
scopic) and concave — are made by varying the
forms of the iron mills.
We will pay fifty cents each for copies
of Nos. 4 and 5, Vol. I., of the Horological
Journal.
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
211
HIM'S TO KEPALREltS.
NUMBER TWO.
Balance pivots, and other pivots running
on cap jewels, can be made much thinner and
yet much stronger than ordinary pivots, by
making them conical. Not only are conical
pivots stronger, but are also more elegant in
appearance than straight pivots. To make
conical pivots the repairer must provide him-
self with some pivot files and a pivot rest for
his lathe ; these extras he must construct
himself (they not being sold in tool-sbops),
in the following manner. The pivot files
being the first consideration, the repairer
must provide himself with three pieces of
long and flat steel, or three old pivot files ;
one for filing, one for grinding, and one for
polishing the pivot. The first-named file is
first heated to a cherry red and left to cool
slowly ; the edge to which the workman is
accustomed to file with, is filed to exactly the
shape for filling the cone of the pivot when
in a finished state ; the file marks are then
ground off by grinding with a piece of copper
plate and oil-stone dust with oil; then provide
a punch (such as is used by chasers, and can
be bought at any tool-shop), whose face pre-
sents the appearance of the cuts on a file — the
finer the cuts on this punch the better ; the
ground edge of the file is then chased with
this punch, held lightly above the file, imbed-
ding the file-marks transversely the whole
length of the file, and is then hardened and
tempered to a light straw color.
The next file, or the one to be used for
grinding, must also be softened and must have
the edge filed exactly the same shape of the
first file, and is also to be ground, but in a
direction perpendicular to its length, and is
then hardened and tempered to a dark blue
color. The other file, or the one to be used
for burnishing, is also softened and must also
have the edge filed off to exactly the same
shape as the first file, and is ground first with
a piece of copper plate with oil-stone dust and
oil, and lastly with a piece of type metal, with
very fine oil-stone dust and oil — care being
taken to grind in a perpendicular direction to
the length of the file.
The next consideration is the pivot rest for
the lathe. A piece of good English cast-steel
is selected that will exactly fit the hole in the
lathe for the reception of the pivot rest ; this
rest is provided with a notched wheel, whose
object is to keep the rest in a rigid position
while the repairer is at work thereon ; the
front part of the rest is thgn turned so that
a head is left standing, whose breadth should
be twice the length of a pivot ; this head is
filed into a number of flats, corresponding to
the number of notches in the wheel at the
the back of the rest, care being taken to file
these flats exactly perpendicular to the point
opposite in the lathe, when a notch at the
back of the rest is in check by a piece of steel
fastened into the base of the lathe ; different
sized notches are now filed into the flats, in a
line with the point in the lathe exactly oppo-
site. The fronts of the notches are now
rounded, corresponding in shape to the cone
on the pivot when in a finished state, which
is done in the following manner : A perfectly
round file is taken, pointed and provided
with a collet, and placed in the ordinary
turning lathe ; or, if the workman is provided
with an American lathe, the round file is
screwed into a chuck; in either case the file is
set in motion and the edge of the notch in
the rest is brought to bear against it; the rest,
meanwhile,being slightly moved up and down,
until the notches have the proper shape, viz.,
corresponding to the shape of the pivot when
finished; the notches are then ground and
polished by substituting a round piece of iron
wire, with oil-stone dust, for grinding, and a
piece of zinc wire, with diamantine and alco-
hol for polishing. The rest is then hardened
and tempered to a light straw color. Now
the pivot, being turned to very nearly
the shape it should have, is placed in the
pivot lathe, so that the front of the pivot
rests solidly in the notch on the rest, allow-
ing the cone of the pivot to come as near
as possible to the rest. The first file is
then introduced, and the pivot filed until
the pivot is very near the proper diam-
eter ; the grinding file is then taken, and
the pivot ground with very fine oil-stone dust,
and lastly the pivot is burnished with the
burnishing file. A little practice will enable
any one to make a very nice conical pivot.
In the above description the style of pivot
212
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
lathe supposed to be used is the ordinary
Jacot lathe, they being the most handy.
When the pivot lathe differs in style from the
Jacot lathe, the above description of appli-
ances will, of course, not apply, but the work-
men will certainly have ingenuity enough,
from the above description, to substitute the
required changes.
To polish the face of a pinion requires
a little tool, that can easily be made, thus:
A piece of brass is filed into the shape
of a T, with this difference, that the two
short ends are bent up, and on these ends
two screws are adjusted; between these, and
running on these two screws, is a little brass
piece, through which a hole is drilled, the
hole being sufficiently large to hold little
chucks, made of soft iron and brass, that also
have a small hole drilled through them ; the
brass piece must be able to revolve freely be-
tween the screws. Now, when the face of a
pinion is to be polished, one of the little iron
chucks is set into the brass piece, the tool
held in the left hand, and the staff of the
pinion is put into the ho'e (the hole being a
little larger than the diameter of the staff of
the pinion), so that the face of the pinion
rests against the side of the chuck, and the
other end of the pinion held against the vice;
a little oil stone dust with oil is applied to the
pinion, which is set in motion with the
drill bow, and ground until a true flat is
attained; the iron chuck is then replaced by
one of composition, a little diamantine applied
to the pinion, and set in motion in the same
manner, until the pinion is nicely polished.
The chuck accommodating itself to the face
of the pinion (it hanging on two pivots or
screws), must necessarily produce a true flat.
Charles Spiro.
33 John street, N. Y.
GOOD TIME.
We have received from Mr. F. E.
Allen one of his patent poising tools, also
one of the screw stands, and a set of screw
drivers, but for want of space cannot speak
of them in detail. It always gives us pleas-
ure to notice any thing that is calculated to
assist the workman in doing his work better
and with greater ease to himself. We think
they will be well received by the trade.
Below we give the results of observation
of the running of Watch No. 1818, manufac-
tured by the U. S. Watch Company, from
Dec. 13th to Jan. 13th, taken at irregular in-
tervals, at which date we carelessly let it run
down.
December 13 4.5 seconds slow.
15 8
19 6
27 4 " "
30 6
31 5
January 4 1 " "
5 1
9 1
13 3
The observations were not taken with a
view of publication, and it is no more than
justice to the watch to state that the test was
not a fair one, as the winding was irregular — ■
from nine to twelve o'clock. The running
down seems to have proved a disturbing
cause, for now it has a daily losing rate, but
so uniform that the result is actually better,
although the loss is nearly two seconds per
day. The only true test of any time-keeper
is in its daily rate — not in its showing the
correct time once a week, once a month, or
once a year. When we take into considera-
tion how many disturbing causes there are to
affect the pocket time-piece — the numberless
jars it receives in the course of the day, as
well as the frequent changes of position it is
subject to — and then consider the fact that
each twenty-four hours of time is subdivided
into nearly four hundred and fifty thousand
separate and distinct parts, each one of which
is marked by a vibration of the balance, we
can only look upon it in wonder and admira-
tion, considering it, as it really is, the nearest
approach to perfection in engineering skill
the world ever saw.
The manufacture of watches in this coun-
try is of very recent date, and was commenced
under the most embarrassing circumstances,
the projectors of the enterprise having very
little practical knowledge of the business, and
there being absolutely no skilled labor avail-
able ; yet all the American factories h ive
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
213
produced work of •which they may well be
proud.
Since the above was in type we have re-
ceived from Messrs. Richard Oliver & Balen
the following certificate. If the " H. G. Nor-
ton" was compared with Dudley Observatory
time every day, and at no time showed a
greater variation from mean time than one
second, we should think W. H. Williams &
Son would have no hesitation in recommend-
insr the H. G. Nortons to their customers :
Messrs. Richakd Oliver & Balen,
Gen'l Agents K Y. Watch Co. :
Gents, — One of your three-quarter plate
watches named "H. G. Norton," which we
bought of you in the early part of November
last, we ran for four weeks by Dudley Obser-
vatory time, and it varied only one second
during that time. We also ran one of your
" Albert Clark " movements, and it ran nearly
as close.
W. H. Williams & Son.
Albany, Feb. 14, 1871.
DONATION TO THE MUSKUM OF THE LAND
OFFICE.
The Acting Commissioner of the General
Land Office has received from J. Dickinson,
Esq., of New York, for the Geological Museum
a suite of classified specimens of diamond
carbonate, bort, and diamond bort, in their
proximate stages of formation, together with
some carbon dust, produced by abrading one
piece of carbon or diamond against another,
in the process of shaping for ornamental and
other purposes. The ordinary or white dia-
mond has of late been used for drilling, turn-
ing, and dressing stone, as well as for placing
and boring steel and other metals, but the cost
has been a great objection to its extended ap-
plication; the diamond carbonate, or black
diamond, has been substituted, which also
has the further advantage of being consider-
ably harder than the white transparent dia-
mond, and consequently has been applied to
shaping and polishing the latter. The
shaping of diamonds for ornamental purposes
is comparatively a modern art. History in-
forms us that Louis Van Bergen, of Burges,
in 1456, first invented a process for cutting,
then polishing, abrading one diamond
against another, and by polishing them after-
ward with the powder produced therefrom.
This is said to be one of the earliest patents
granted. After careful research and inquiry
both here and in Europe, it was found that
neither the opaque, black, nor transparent
diamond had ever been shaped into angular
forms for the mechanical arts.
The merit of this invention belongs to Mr.
Dickinson, and the Land Office is especially
indebted to Dr. Ott, of New York, for his ex-
ertions in obtaining this valuable donation to
the Museum connected with the General
Land Office.
JEWELKT PEDDLERS.
Editob Horological Journal :
I know that I shall touch a sore spot in the
feelings of nearly every country watchmaker
when I allude to that bane of their exist-
ence— the jewelry peddler.
Flitting from place to place as trade grows
dull or a better prospect appears, travelling
from house to house in a manner compelling
every one to at least look over their goods,
they are — and why attempt to deny it? —
most formidable rivals to the small dealer in
the country. That they are, as a class, a
nuisance -in any community every watch-
maker will readily admit ; so, also, will all
others as well who understand the sub-
ject.
The jewelry peddler is subject to very few
incentives to fair dealing, or restraints against
very sharp practice. The goods he deals in,
next to horse-flesh, are perhaps the most
suited to deceive ; and his comings and
goings hinder him from being called to a
prompt account, sometimes forever prevent-
ing it. With them "all is gold that glit-
ters," and their rates of profit are fixed
only by the gullibility or means of their
customers. The communities in which they
trade derive nothing from them in the way
of taxes, although the local dealer always
has his taxes to pay, and nothing from the
214
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
circulation of the money in their own neigh-
borhoods. The only thing that can be said
in favor of the jewelry peddler is, that they
are too clever to be bores.
The principal remedy for this state of
things is of course with the people them-
selves ; whether it will ever be remedied is a
matter of doubt. Still a great deal can be
done by the watchmakers to drive them off.
In this State (New York) a license fee of $20
is required for peddling goods of foreign
manufacture, which covers most watches and
spectacles, and some other goods. Any citi-
zen can demand to see a peddler's State
license, and if he refuses to show it, he can
take him before a justice of the peace and
have him fined $5. If it turns out that he
has no license to show, he is fined $25. The
licenses are granted by the Secretary of
State, at Albany, and justices of the peace
are furnished by the county clerk of their
county with lists of all licensed peddlers.
Some years there are not more than twenty
licensed peddlers in the whole State. It
should be a satisfaction to every tax-paying
watchmaker to know that these men were
compelled to pay their share of the State
taxes, wlrch would really amount to a con-
siderable sum. But the best way to oppose
them is for the local dealers to keep the
best stock that their means will allow. No
good watchmaker ought to try to compete
with peddlers, fancy-goods dealers, stationers,
and the hosts of others who trade in brass
and cheap plated jewelry, and horn, and
wood, and such stuff. If he has only a little
money, let him deal only in watches, and, as
his capital accumulates, add other staple
goods, and let them only be good ones. It is
far better to earn money by good work than
to waste valuable time in trying to sell a
poor article at a cheap price, which will never
give satisfaction, no matter how cheaply it
may be sold. "Watchmakers are always held
to a more strict account for their representa-
tions than other dealers in the same kind of
goods, and very properly, too, for they know
the quality and value of the articles that they
sell. This fact alone should convince any
one that a poor article should not be sold at
all, it being far better to let some one else sell
the poor goods.
As long as a watchmaker has not -a good
stock of watches, gold jewelry, clocks, silver
and plated ware, and spectacles, he should
avoid all other goods and confine himself
strictly to his own class of trade. If with a
good stock of such things on hand, and
money to spare, why then he is a very for-
tunate man, and neither peddlers nor cheap
jewelry will disturb his peace of mind. This,
in my opinion, will go some way towards
driving off peddlers. That they should be
prohibited by law perhaps would be re-
quiring too much ; still the license fee might
be raised to $250, which would not exceed
the average rent which watchmakers are re-
quired to pay for their stores in the country,
so that it would be no great hardship, and
would tend to save the public from the least
responsible of the peddlers. But alas ! our
fraternity have no "lobbyist" at Albany, and
in case of a struggle, I don't know but the
peddlers would overpower us there.
B. F. H.
QUERY.
Editor Hoeoi-ogical Journal:
In your September issue, p. G2, there are
directions for sizing pinions bty measuring the
teeth of the wheel. Rules of this kind may
be resorted to in all cases where no better
means are to be disposed of ; certainly, they
have no claim to giving the exacl sizes of pin-
ions. But what strikes me most of all in this
table, is the statement that the pinions from
G to 8 leaves and those of 12, 15, and 16, must
be considerably larger for clocks than for
watchwork. I always thought the mechani-
cal laws for a correct transmission of move-
ment by toothed wheels must be absolutely
the same, no matter whether it forms a part
of mill work or watch work. If, in a scientific
organ like yours, such a statement passes un
noticed, it may lead to the belief that it is a
dogma generally accepted by all its readers,
and therefore I wish to ask :
1. By what reasons ought certain pinions
to be larger when intended for clock-work ?
2. On what grounds may certain other pin-
ions be exempt from this necessity ?
Saxon.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
215
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
H. N. R., Kansas. — There is no greater
error entertained by the majority of our trade,
who have not had the advantage of thorough
education to the business, than that which
supposes there must be some great mystery,
some profound secret in polishing steel work.
There is no mystery — no secret process, nor
material, it is only patient labor, and that is
the " secret " of all excellence in any depart-
ment of art, science, or mechanics.
Take any simple, beautiful, easy-flowing
versification; it reads so smoothly that it
seems possible for any body to have written
it. But could you see the manuscript of the
author — perhaps dozens of them — with all
the erasures, alterations, interlineations, that
consumed weeks of time, and intense mental
exertion, you might then change your mind
as to the spontaneous gushing of poetry.
So with a picture, that appears so small for
the price. $1,500 for a landscape 10 by 12
inches seems a fearful sum, but it is the labor
bestowed on it that makes it so perfectly true
to nature, and so highly prized; 'tis not in-
spiration, 'tis not slight of hand, but down-
right hard Work. When a musician sits
down at the piano, sweet sounds follow with
such easy rapidity that the years of labor to
acquire that skilful execution are lost sight
of. An unskilled wood-worker will fancy that
the exquisite polish on the case of the piano
is put on by some peculiar varnish — to find
which has been his inquiry for years. Did
he but know that the finish he so much
admires was only the result of labor — nothing
but persistent hard rubbing — he would per-
haps go to v}ork instead of spending his time
in the vain search for some short "royal
road " to such perfection of polish. It's the
same with the polish of steel work. Your
work must be finished with file or graver, or
whatever other tool is used; the marks of that
tool must be stoned out, not a scratch or mark
left; if there be you may polish till the
" crack o'doom," and all in vain. Then the
stone marks must be eradicated by fine emery,
crocus, sharp, or whatever else you use; then
you can hppe to make a polish with rouge
and nibbing, rubbing and rouge. You may
as well expect a mill to grind without power
as to expect any polish without labor. The
error usually made is in not preparing for
i he polishing, a gloss being very quickly given
when the necessary preliminary steps are
taken. The labor mostly is in the first pro-
cess, not the final one. Vienna lime is largely
used with water to give the final gloss to soft
steel work. Rouge is most commonly used ;
diamantine is also used, and gives rapid re-
sults when all the previous preparation of the
work has been well done. All labor in polish-
ing is lost ; it requires no labor. The labor
of preparing to polish is not lost ; it is all
spent necessarily, because no good results
can be had without it.
0. D. B., New York. — A Chinese duplex
watch, with centre seconds, would be better
than an ordinary watch for taking transit
observations of the sun only because the sec-
onds are larger.
The best thing for that purpose, of course,
is a chronograph ; but the expense of such
an instrument places it beyond the reach of
the watchmaker. The next best thing is a
good chronometer, beating half seconds.
With practice no assistant is needed in
taking an observation ; by carrying the beat
in the mind, and noticing between what beats
the contact of the edge of the sun takes place
with the liHe, the exact time of such contact
may be noted to a very small fraction of a
second. Messiie. John Bliss & Co., the chron-
ometer and transit makers, inform us that
very little experience is required to enable
any person to note the contacts, using such a
chronometer as we mention, within one
quarter of a second, and that even greater
accuracy is attainable. But for the practical
purposes of the watchmaker it is not neces-
sary to note them closer than the nearest
second.
E. N., Ct. — Authorities on this subject
differ in opinion as to the proper means of
producing the curve in the Breguet hair-
spring. The end to accomplish is a perfect
isochronism ; some produce the curve by
making two, and sometimes three, kinks in
the spring ; others produce the curve by a
gradual sweep towards, and then concentrio
to, the centre, and without any kink what-
ever. In our opinion, the latter mode ia
much to be preferred, there being no inter-
216
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ruptions in its action, as there certainly must
be where kinks are resorted to to produce
the curve.
E. L. M., 0. — "We have received several
letters recently, speaking of the necessity of
some means for the better education of
watchmakers in matters pertaining to their
profession, and, judging from specimens that
a friend says he meets with almost daily on
the road, should say there was. We append
an extract from his last letter :
"A * travelling jour.' applied to a friend of
mine for a job. He was of the German per-
suasion. He told a pitiful story of being
unfortunate, sick, and, worst of all, out of
money. My friend consented to give him a
few jobs to help him along. The first was an
old-fashioned verge watch, which he put in
order, and handed back for ' inspection.' It
was apparently well done. But upon exami-
nation with a glass, a Uttle moisture appeared
on the contrite pinion. Upon inquiry what
that was, he replied, ' De reel vas loose ; I
put a little acit on him, and he rust and go
tight.' His first job was also the lad.
" I was selling one of my customers some
'material,' occasionally suggesting some-
thing he might need. Amongst other things,
I asked him if he did not want some ' centre
squares.' He said, 'I not puy tern any
more.' I inquired if he did not find occa-
sion to use them. He said, 'Oh, yes.'
' Well,' was my reply, ' What do you do
then ? ' He said, ' I use dese little shingle
nails ; I files 'em town.' "
H. U., ///. — If you will refer to the answer
to W. W. S., page 69, Vol. II., you will find
the information you desire in regard to pla-
ting- , '
AMERICAN HOROLOG-ICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
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229 BrO($dwatj, JV. Y.,
At $2. 50 per Year, payable in advance.
A limited number of Advertisements connected
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All communications should be addressed,
O. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For March, 1871.
Day
w.
Th.
Fri
Sat
Su.
M..
Tu.
W.
Th.
Fri.
Sat
Su.
ML.
Tu.j 14
W.| 15
Th.! 16
Fri J 17
Sat 18
Su. 19
ML. 20
Tu.l 21
W.
Th.
Fri
Sat
Su.
M.
Tu.
\y.
rii.
Fri
Sidereal
Time
of
the Semi-
diameter
Passing
the
Meridian.
Equation
of
Time to be
Added to
Apparent
Time.
65 43
65 36
65.29
65 22
65.16
65.10
65.(14
64.98
64.93
64 88
64.83
64.78
64.74
64 70
64 66
64 63
64.60
64 56
64.54
64.52
64 50
64 48
64.47
64.46
64 46
64.46
64 46
64.46
64.47
64.48
61 49
12 35.62
12 23.51
12 10.88
11 57.77
11 44 20
11 30 18
31 15.74
11 0.91
10 45 70
10 30.16
10 14.29
9 58.11
9 41.65
9 24.93
9 7 98
8 50 81
8 33.43
8 15.87
7 58.14
7 40 26
7 22.25
7 4.13
6 45.91
27.60
9.22
50.81
2.36
13.89
55.44
37.02
18.64
6 2
6
5 5(
5 3:
5 1.
4 5.
4 3_
4 If
Equation
of
DilT.
Time to be
for
Subtracted
One
from
Mean Time.
M. S.
s.
12 35 73
0.494
12 23.61
0.515
12 10.99
0.536
31 57.88
0.555
31 44.31
0.574
11 30.28
0.592
11 15.85
0.610
11 1 02
0.626
10 45.81
0.641
10 30.27
0.655
10 14 40
0.668
9 58 22
0.681
9 41.76
0.692
9 25.04
0.702
9 8 09
0.711
8 50.92
0.719
8 33 54
0.728
8 35.97
0.735
7 58.24
0.742
7 40.36
0.748
7 22.35
0.753
7 4.23
0.757
6 46 00
0.761
6 27 68
0.765
6 9.30
0.767
5 50.88
0.768
5 32.43
0.769
5 13.96
0.769
4 55.51
0.768
4 37.08
0-766
4 18 69
0.763
Sidereal
Tima
or
Right*
Ascension
of
Mean Sun.
H. M.
22 35
22 39
22 43
22 47
22 51
22 55
22 59
23 2
23 6
23 10
23 34
23 18
23 22
23 26
23 30
23 34
23 3-t
23 42
23 46
23 50
23 54
23 58
0 2
0 6
0 10
0 13
0 17
0 21
0 25
0 29
0 33
23.76
20.32
36.87
13 42
9.97
6.53
3.08
59.63
56.19
52.74
49.29
45.85
42.40
38.95
35.50
32.05
28.61
25.16
21.71
18.27
14.82
11.37
7.92
4.48
3.03
57.58
54.13
50 69
47.24
43.79
40.35
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by *ub-
tracti ig 0. 19 s. from the sidereal lime.
The Semidiamet'jr lor mean neon may be assumed the samju
that for apparent uoon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D H. M.
© Full Moon 6 15 39.2
( Last Quarter 13 10 19.8
© New Moon 20 10 0 5
) FirstQuarter 28 18 44.3
D. H.
( Perigee v. . 30 9 6
( Apogee 26 4.3
o / //
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48.1
H. M. 8.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29.05
New York City Hall .■ 4 56 0.35
Savannah Exchange .. 5 24 20. 572
Hudson, Ohio * 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory . 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT
APPARENT
MKRID.
R. ASCENSION.
DECLINATION.
PASS AGS.
D.
H. M. S.
o ' /
H. M.
1
0 2 58.23..
..- 0 56 2.9..
... 1 27.6
Jupiter. . .
. 1
5 3 37.72 .
.. + 22 63 41.5..
... 6 27.2
Saturn, . .
. 1
18 34 42.3'..
.. -22 24 63.1..
...19 56.3
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal.
Vol, II.
NEW YORK, APRIL, 1871
No. 10.
CONTENTS.
essat on the construction of a simple and
Mechanicallt Perfect Watch, ..... 217
Heat, 223
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measurement
of Time, 228
Niceel, 234
Watch Brass, 236
Answers to Correspondents, 238
Equation of Time Table, 240
* * * Address all communications for Horological
Journal to G. B. Miller, P. 0. Box 6715, Aeto York
City. Publication, Office 229 Broadway, Room 19.
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, in tbe
office of tbe Librarian of Cougress at Wasbington.J
ON THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANI-
CALLY PERFECT WATCH.
BY MOEEITZ GROSSMANN.
CHAPTER V.
THE TRAIN.
53. The first condition for tbe construction
of the train of a watch is, to make it of as
large dimensions as the diameter of the
movement will admit of. The very limited
space allowed by the reigning taste for the
movement of a portable time- keeper is already
an impediment to the attaining of a high
degree of perfection in the gearings ; and if
it is possible to execute the wheels and
pinions of a clock with a satisfactory degree
of accuracy, it gets more and more difficult
to do so according to the smaller dimensions
in which the work is to be executed. If we
had the means of verifying easily the accu-
racy of the division and rounding of our small
pinions, even of the best make, we wou1d soon
come to the conclusion that it must neces-
sarily diminish with their dimensions. The
inequalities and alterations of shape by the
stoning and polishing will be nearly the same
with a large pinion as with a small one,
only the small one suffers proportionally
much more under them. This applies to the
manufacturing of the pinions; but before the
pinion runs in the train, it has to pass through
the finishing process. The finisher, first of
all, will have to verify whether the pinion
runs perfectly true, and to set it true in case
of need. In a]l operations of this nature the
operative has to rely on his eye for distin-
guishing whether the state of the piece is
satisfactory. But the eye, like all the senses
of man, is reliable only within certain limits,
and if a good workman pronounces a pinion
to be true, this statement must not be taken
mathematically ; it can only be understood
so that an experienced eye can no more
detect any deviations from the truth of run-
ning. There are, then, in any piece of work-
manship some small defects escaping the
most experienced eye, and their absolute
quantity is about the same for the large
pieces as for the small ones. Let us suppose,
for instance, that a careful workman, when
turning a pinion of 3 m. diameter, cannot
perceive any defect of truth beyond one-
hundredth of this size — say 0.03 m. The
same defect, indistinguishable to his eye, with
a pinion of 1 m. diameter will be, not one,
but three-hundredths of it ; consequently it
is of threefold more importance with the
small pinion, taken proportionally.
The same considerations will, to their full
extent, apply also to the correctness of the
depths, or gearings ; and it will be clearly
seen that it is of the greatest importance to
construct the acting parts of the train as
large as the diameter of the watch will admit
of.
54. Another matter of great importance is
the uniform transmission of motive power
from the barrel, through the train, to the
escapement. This uniformity can only be
attained by gool depths ; an 1 as it is well
218
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
known that the depths are more perfect with
the higher numbered pinions, it is advisable
never to have the centre pinion with less
than 12 leaves, the 3d and 4th wheel pinions
with 10, and the escape pinion with 7 at least.
The difference resulting therefrom in the
cost of manufacturing is so very trifling that
it could not be an obstacle to making even
low class watches with these numbers.
The centre pinion, it must be admitted,
will be more delicate, apparently, and more
liable to injury by the sudden jerk resulting
from a rupture of the main-spring, or by the
pressure occasioned through careless wind-
ing. The teeth of the barrel, too, being ne-
cessarily thinner, will be more apt to bend
from the same causes ; but this is partly
remedied by the fact that with a pinion of
12 there are in almost every movement two
teeth of the barrel acting at the same time
on two leaves of the pinion; while in the
lower numbered pinions one tooth alone has
to lead through a more or less extended
angle. Thus, any sudden shock will be
divided between two teeth of the pinion of 12,
and sustained in the same way by two teeth
of the barrel belonging to it, whereby the ap-
parent danger is greatly diminished. Besides,
the finer toothing producing a better trans-
mission of power, a weaker main-spring may
be used, and in case of its rupture the shock
will be less violent.
55. One of the chief conditions for a good
and regular transmission of power is a good
and suitable shape of the wheel teeth; and it
is astonishing to see in what an indifferent
way this important matter is treated. It is
a well-known fact that the wheel teeth, in
order to act properly, ought to have an
epicycloidal rounding, and no engineer would
suffer any other form for the teeth of star
wheels. Berthoud treated this subject in a
most elaborate way about a century ago ;
Reid anl others have also explained the
principles of the construction of toothed
wheels most explicitly, but in vain. It seems
that the greater part of the Horological com-
munity have resolved to view the shape of
their wheel teet as a matter of taste. All
the wheels of English and other makers have,
with very few exceptions, then." teeth of a
shape defying the rules of Berthoud, Reid,
and other leaders ; a shape of which nothing
can be said, except that they look very nice
in the eyes of those that make them, or those
who use them, and say, " They look much
better, indeed, than those ugly pointed
teeth." There is no possibility of being suc-
cessful against arguments like these, and I
have known many a respectable and good
watchmaker who declared that he could not
bear the sight of epicycloidally rounded teeth.
This is a subject, however, which can not be
more amply entered into for the moment, but
if our Editor wishes it, and if the present
little treatise is favorably received by his
readers, I shall be ready to make it the sub-
ject of another treatise, closely following the
present one, and extending to the different
ways of cutting wheels and pinions, practical
methods of finding the sizes of wheels and
pinions, and the distance of pitch, as well as
the eight sizes of cutters for a given diameter
and number of teeth; all by easy and plain
calculation and measurement, with tables for
greater convenience.
56. The respective proportions of the
wheels of a train ought also to present a cer-
tain harmony, attainable by a regular pro-
gression in the diameters of the wheels and
the fineness of their teeth.
57. With respect to the escape pinion, at
least for the larger watches, I would strongly
recommend to have it of 8 leaves, with a
fourth wheel of 75, and an escape wheel of
16 teeth. The last depth, the most sensitive
of all to any irregularity of transmission, will
be found greatly improved by so doing.
58. The following are the sizes of a train,
which, according to nay opinion, would
answer perfectly to the above conditions, for
a watch of 43 m.=19 lignes Swiss, or 14 Eng-
lish size :
Diameter of barrel (25) 43.0.485=20.85 m.
Centre wheel 15.4 "
Third " .... 13.0 "
Fourth «' 11. 8^ "
The numbers would be :
Barrel, 90 teeth, Pinion, 12. j
Centre wheel, 80 " " 10.
Third ■' 75 " " 10.
Fourth •■ 75 " " 8.
The sizes of teeth are accordingly :
Barrel 0.345 m.
Centre wheel 0.30 "
Third " 0.27 "
Fourth " ; 0.24 "
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
219
It is easy to see that this progression is a
very regular one.
59. The train ought to be arranged in such
a way as to have the seconds circle at a suit-
able place on the dial. This circle, of course,
ought to be as large as possible, for the sake
of distinctness of the divisions ; and, on the
other hand, it ought not to be so large as to
cover entirely the VI. of the hour circle. It
may. be recommended as a good disposition
to have the centre of the circle of seconds
exactly in the middle of the distance from
the centre of the dial to its edge. The
general observation of this rule would be a
decided step towards a greater regularity of
construction, and, besides, it would prove a
great boon to all the dealers and manufac-
turers of dials, and to all the repairers who
have to replace broken dials.
A greater circle of seconds might be at-
tained by approaching its centre nearer to
the centre of the dial, but this subordinate
advantage would be too dearly purchased at
the expense of the commodious arrangement
of the wheel work. .
GO. The height of the moving arbors ought
Fig. 16.
to be restricted only b}r the height of the
frame. The longer the distance between the
two bearings of an axis can be, the better it
will prove for the stability of the moving
part, as well as its performance. The same
amount of side shake required for free action
will influence the pitch of a long pinion less
than that of a short one.
The diameters of the pivots in watch-work
could not be made according to the generally
established rules in the construction of ma-
chines, for if we should attempt to make the
dimensions of our pivots in a theoretical pro-
portion to the strain which they have to
i-esist, we would obtain pivots of such ex-
treme thinness that they would be very dif-
ficult to make and to handle, and it would be
doubtful whether the cross section of such a
pivot would not come into an unfavorable
proportion with the molecular disposition of
the steel. Besides, it ought always to be
kept in mind that the pivots of the train must
not be calculated to bear with safety the mere
pressure of the main-spring, but also the
sudden strains resulting from rupture of the
spring, or from rough winding. Thus, there
Fig. 17.
will be very little to say against the way in
which the pivots of watch-work are generally
made.
61. There remains a word to say on an im-
provement of recent date. It has already
been mentioned (54) that the centre pinion
and the barrel are in constant danger of
having their teeth bent or broken by the
sudden jerk of a breaking main-spring. These
accidents are so troublesome, that a number
of little contrivances have been made in order
to avoid them. It will not be useless to give
a look and a thought to these inventions, and
to consider whether they are really what
they ought to be.
62. There is one of these precautions con-
sisting of a kind of elastic transmission on
the third wheel. This wheel (Figs. 16 and
17) is fitted with a collet, loose on the pinion,
which carries a disc, b, riveted to it. On
this disc is fastened a spring, c, with a per-
pendicular arm, d, which extends towards the
third wheel, and reaches the arms of this
wheel with its end, thus carrying the wheel
with it while the watch is going. The end of
the arm has a slight slope, and when the
spring breaks it is expected to slip over the
arm of the wIipp1 by the violence of the shock,
and thus to . top it. I should not advise the
use of this safety apparatus, because I think
220
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOTTBNAL.
it will fail by the inertia of the parts between
the third wheel and the main-spring. The
destruction, by a sudden jerk, will be com-
pleted before its power reaches the third
wheel, in a like manner as the blast powder
in a hole made in solid rock, and stopped up
with a little clay, will split the rock by its
sudden action before it has time to drive out
the small stopping. Besides, this arrange-
ment, if it should have any chance of success,
must have the spring exactly regulated, so
that it does not yield to the pressure of the
main-spring when fully wound, but that any
pressure beyond this will make it slip over.
If this be not the case, the safety of the
centre pinion will not be attained ; and, if it
be, any excess of -pressure, by inconsiderate
winding at the end of the operation, will
make the spring run over, and the result of
this would be a deviation of rate. Now, I
think the wearer of a watch will find an
irregularity of its performance a fault of a
much more grave character than an occa-
sional accident which he knows to be out of
connection with the time-keeping of the
Avatch.
G3. Other contrivances promise better suc-
cess, because the regulating resistance is in
the centre pinion. This latter has a rather
large hole, and is adjusted on a staff or axis,
to which the wheel is riveted, the pinion
being held fast on the staff by a screw nut
and a washer. This pinion, if it is set in
motion, performs like a solid one, owing to
the frictioual resistance which keeps it to its
staff, being a little in excess of the strain
effected on it by the moving power ; but any
addition to this strain causes the pillion to
move independently of its staff, and thus to
counteract the strain without injury to any
of the acting parts. It will be readily under-
stood that this disposition protects the centre
pinion and barrel teeth, not only against the
sudden shocks of a breaking spring, but also
against any unequal strain in winding, and
all this without any alteration of the time
shown by the watch (62).
However, this contrivance has also its weak
side. The centre pinion, with its large hole,
especially when it is of a lower number than
12, has too little stock left between this hole
ami the bottom of "the teeth, and therebv the
solidity is endangered from another side.
Therefore, it will answer in the case of a
watch the hands of which are set at the front,
but it will hardly do for the hollow centre
pinions used for setting the hands on the
back.
64. I recently had in hand a similar safety
centre pinion of English make, also with a
staff on which the pinion was screwed with a
three headed screw. Tapped into the hole of
the pinion, and cut on the staff, this screw,
which must be a right handed one, if the
centre wheel is above the pinion, and a left
handed one' if it is below the pinion, is kept
tight in the ordinary course by the pressure
of the motive power. But when a backward
shock is applied to the pinion, it unscrews,
thus obviating any injurious effect. This
method, though it appears very effective; is
still open to several serious objections. The
additional strain at the end of the "winding
operation is not counteracted, but tends to
screw the pinion still closer, so that it is
doubtful whether, in case of emergency, it
wpuld break or unscrew, especially consider-
ing that the pinion itself, by the large dimen-
sion of its hole, is rendered, rather frail.
Besides this, there is no saying from which
side the shock of the breaking spring will
come. If the spring breaks near its outer
end, the shock will apply in the way of the
regular tension of the spring, and the safety
apparatus will be of not the slightest use ; on
the contrary, the pinion weakened by the
large hole, will stand a poor chance. It will
only be effective in case of the spring break-
ing near its inner end.
65. There is a general demand for any-
thing effecting a guard against acccident to
the centre pinion, and every thinking manu-
facturer ought to make this an object of his
reflections. Still, it seems the right thing is
not found yet. The best contrivance is cer-
tainly that of adjusting the pinion on a round
and slightly taper staff, and to hold it fast by
a screw nut and washer; but it has the objec-
tion of diminished solidity of the pinion
itself against it.
66. I never felt a temptation, however, to
apply it to any watch of my own manufac-
ture, as I believe that there is a plainer way
of attaining the purpose. First of all, it will
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
221
lead in the direction of having, by observa-
tion of the preceding principles concerning
barrel and train, a main-spring of compara-
tively great length and little thickness. In
case of breakage, the shock resulting from it
will be less injurious, and in winding it the
interposing of the stopwork will be more
readily felt than with a strong stubborn
spring.
Secondly, I think it advisable, and practi-
cally possible, to strengthen the teeth of the
centre pinion and barrel by giving them a
shape more appropriate to their functions.
Whenever one of these teeth is broken, the
fracture invariably takes place at the bottom,
where it is thinnest, and has two sharp cor-
ners, required by the taste of the great ma-
jority of watchmakers. An alteration of this
Fig. 11
shape would give the teeth about double the
strength, as it will be evident when looking
at the dotted lines marked a in the cut, with-
out interfering in any way with the service of
the parts. I feel persuaded that the general
employment of this form for the teeth of
barrels and centre pinions would serve the
purpose very well, though it is not pretended
that a complete guarantee against fracture
would ensue from it; but in this point all the
other contrivances are equally doubtful.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MOTION-WOBK.
67. There is not much to say about the
construction of this part of the movement,
because it is, to a certain degree, independent
of the proportion of the train. In Swiss
watches the motion works are generally
much smaller than there is any necessity for
making them. With the employment of the
free springs, however, there might be some
advantage in very small motion work, be-
cause the barrel heads of that kind have no
shoulders allowing the necessary space for
the hour wheel.
08. There are some trifling matters in the
motion-work open to reform. In English
watches, even of the better makers, the
minute wheel moves mostly on a brass pin,
driven rather carelessly into the pillar plate ;
an execution altogether unworthy of the char-
acter and general workmanship of these
watches. The Swiss watches, on the con-
trary, down to their lowest qualities, have
invariably a screwed staff on which the
minute pinion is adjusted. These staffs are
not easy to make, inconvenient to take out
and screw in again, and by the tapping of the
hole in the plate they offer less reliability of
a true pitch than a round hole drilled on the
pitch circle. I think there is a way between
these two, which is easy of execution, and
irreproachable as to solidity and diminished
friction. A hole of the same size as that in
the minute pinion is drilled through the
pillar plate, on the pitch circle. A good
round and well polished pin of hard steel,
rounded at both ends, is driven into this
222
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
hole, even with the plate at its inner side, and j
projecting on the other side till it nearly ;
touches the dial. The minute pinion has a !
small projecting cannon left beyond the rivet
ing, to hold the minute wheel at a little dis
tance over the plate.
Fir.. 19.
G9. There is another matter which might
easily be improved ; it is the way of adjust-
ing the minute hand to the cannon pinion.
In almost all Swiss watches the hand is ad-
justed on the end of the setting staff, and
therefore it is necessary to support the set-
ting square when putting the hand on, lest it
should come out of its place by the pressure.
This is not the case when the hand is adjust-
ed on the extremity of the cannon pinion,
which has a shoulder for this adjustment.
Besides, this arrangement affords the advan-
tage that the end shake -of the hour-wheel
can be regulated between the face of the
cannon pinion and the lower end of the
cannon of the minute-hand, thus dispensing
with the small spring commonly in use for
keeping the hour-wheel steady in its place.
Fio 20.
70. It remains only to say a few words
concerning the setting the hands, which, in
most cases, is done from behind, in Swiss
watches. The setting the hands on the dial
s^ide is an inconvenience almost inseparable
from the nature of a full plate movement, but
in I pi. and bridge frames there is not the
slightest necessity for it. The gradual aban-
donment of the old plan of cases, with
fixed domes, and the movement accessible
only from the dial side, brought the reform of
the way of setting the hands with it.
71. The dial of the watch, though of a
material rather inconvenient to handle, is not
much open to alterations. The liability to
injury of the enamel dial has led to many
endeavors to replace it by some more appro-
priate material. But the principal considera-
tion of a good dial, distinctness, has never
been attained in such perfection as with the
enamelled ones. A perfectly white surface,
with deep black figures on it, cannot be sur-
passed for this purpose. Silver dials, which
were intended to supplant enamel, have
nearly the same whiteness when new, but
they are very liable to get dark from atmos-
pheric influences or careless handling. Gold
dials have also been tried, but being much
less distinct, and especially a gold dial with
gold figures and gold hands, they may be con-
sidered a nuisance, as in any place where it is
not peifectly broad daylight, and to any per-
son who is not endowed with a very sharp
sight, it is impossible to derive any benefit
from a watch fitted out in that way.
For these reasons, the enamel dial, in spite
of its fragility and additional thickness, is,
and will be, kept in use by all those who do
not leave out of sight its principal purpose ;
but it cannot be denied that the invention of
a metallic, or other more appropriate ma-
terial, possessed of the indispensable qualities,
would indeed prove a great progress in prac-
tical horology. There is ample room for use-
ful inventions. There was a period when, in
England and elsewhere, dials were preferred
of a yellowish or grayish tint. These are, of
course, not so fit for the purpose as those, of
pure white enamel. In the same way, the
slightly frosted surface of the English dials is
thought a great improvement, as it is said to
allow of looking at the watch in any direction
vithout being disturbed by the reflection of
the dial surface. This is a strange mistake,
for if the dial of a watch does not reflect,
when held in an awkward direction, the glass
over it certainly will do so. Besides, it is so
very easy to look at a watch without any
danger of annoying reflex.
72. The fastening of the dial is effected in
this direction by pins or screws. It is not ad-
visable to fix the dial with two small screws
and holes drilled through it, because the dial
is very much exposed to injury by the slight-
AMERICAN HOROLQGICAL JOURNAL.
22<
est sideward pressure when shutting the case
— the holes being so very near the edge of
the dial. This method of fastening dials was
formerly preferred by the best French and
Swiss makers, and many a fine dial has been
spoiled by its
Another way of fastening the dial is with
pins. It is quite efficient, and involves no
danger : therefore it has been much in favor
in Eaglish watches, and if the movement can
be got at there is nothing to be said against
it. But in the movements of the present
period, the greater part of which do not open
with a joint, the fastening with pins would be
rather troublesome, because, for taking off
the dial, it would be necessary to take the
movement out of the case.
In all movements cased in this way, the
dial pillars ought to be held by key-screwsj
which allow taking off the dial without re-
moving the movements.
A very good method of fastening the dial
is to set it in a thin rim of silver or gold, and
adjust this rim nicely on the outer edge oj
the pillar plate.
73. The hands, in order to be distinctly
seen, ought to be of a dark color, and the
generally adopted blue steel is far preferable
to gold for this purpose, and the figures and
hands ought to be a little more substantial
than the present taste prescribes for them.
The most convenient shape for the purpose is
the spade pattern ; the Breguet and the
Fni 21.
Fleur-de-Lis hand3 not bo!ng easily distin-
guisLed.
74. The circle of seconds ought to have
every fifth degree visibly marked by a longer
and stronger stroke, in order to facilitate the
reading of the seconds.
Formerly all the dials had flat sec. nds, but
for about thirty years it has been quite
common to have sunk seconds, even for in-
ferior watches. There is some advantage in
that, especially in flat watches, where it
affords acommodation for the seconds-hand,
but at the same time it weakens the dial con-
siderably. This may be the reason why some
makers have the sunk part much smaller, and
the seconds painted on the main dial, the
lines extending inward to the edge of the
sink. The seconds-hand is then shorter, and
moves in the sink.
The dial ought never to be made larger
than the pillar plate.
o-
1IEAT.
NUMBER EIGHT.
FURNACES — FUEL LAMPS — COMBUSTIBLES GAS
ALCOHOL, ETC. BLOW - PIPES METHOD OF
USING — CONCLUSION.
Furnaces differ in construction according
to the uses for which they are designed.
The main parts of every furnace are the body
in which the heat is produced, the grates or
bars upon which the fuel rests, the ash pan
for receiving the residue, and smoke-pipe for
conducting off the gaseous products of com-
bustion. The subject is one that would oc-
cupy far too much of our space to go fully
into it, and we shall only consider one which
may be termed a universal furnace, and which
is suitable for almost every operation in the
work-shop. This universal furnace is of
cylindrical form — this form being the best
adapted for producing a high heat with the
least fuel. It is made of strong plate iron,
and lined in the body and dome with re-
fractory fire clay, the body being about four-
teen inches high by seven inches in diameter.
There are six doors, one at the base for the
admission of air, another in the middle for
the entrance of the fuel, and one for the recep-
tion of the muffle used in assaying or refining.
The door in the dome is for the purpose of
224
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
feeding the fire in crucible operations, and in
the side and at the top for the reception of
the neck of a retort. There are two lateral
openings, opposite to each other, for the pas-
sage of tubes, or of an iron bar, as a support
to the rear end of a muffle. The two circular
openings are those by which it is coupled
with the pipes connecting it with the flue of
the room it is placed in, and are closed by
movable plugs. In crucible operations the
smoke-pipe should lead from the top open-
ing, and in evaporations from the aperture in
the back. The openings in the flue must be
above the level of the furnace. An opening
at the base is for the introduction of the
mouth of a pair of bellows, by which it may
be converted into a blast furnace if necessary.
Blast furnaces are serviceable for expedi-
tiously producing a great intensity of heat,and
are used for fusions and other operations
which require more power than can be ob-
tained by a chimney draught. All furnace
operations should be conducted under a
stationary hood, so that the carbonic acid
and other noxious exhalations may have an
escape, and the sparks and heated air emitted
be prevented from endangering the comfort
and safety of the apartment.
Coal, coke, and charcoal are the fuel most
used. Coal is the least available, for it con-
tains sulphur, and yields a large amount of
ash and clinker, which choke the grating ;
and it should, therefore, never be used in the
blast furnace. Coke and charcoal, separately
and combined, are used for all the furnace
operations in the arte; the former being pref-
erable for higher temperatures. Weight for
weight, their amount of heat is nearly equal;
but the greater density of the coke enables it
to give more, bulk for bulk, by ten per cent
Charcoal ignites more readily, but coke is
more durable. Moreover, when of good
quality and free from sulphurous and earthy
matter, it gives but little ash or clinker. By
mixing the two together the good qualities of
both are obtained; although charcoal alone
is preferable for some purposes. Before
using the coke or charcoal care must be taken
that it has been freed from dust and dirt by
sifting, and that the pieces are about the size
of a walnut, so that they may paok away
neither too loosely nor too compactly.
Lamps are convenient and economoica
substitutes for furnaces in small operations.
Being less cumbersome and more cleanlj
than furnaces. They are readily manageable
and always ready for use; and they alst
afford the means of more rapidly multiplyin;;
results. The amount of heat to be obtaine I
by these instruments depends upon theii
size and arrangement. A properly construct-
ed lamp may be made subservient to all th i
requirements of an ordinary workshop. Tha
heating power of the flame is most active im-
mediately beneath its summit, and the vessel
should be gradually brought into direct con-
tact with that portion, and should be heated
gradually in proportion to its thickness.
When thick glass or porcelain, or brittle,
bad conducting material is suddenly heated,
the heated part expands while the rest does
not, and this unequal tension of two adjacent
parts causes the cracking or fracture of the
vessel. There is therefore a great advantage
in employing glass or porcelain vessels of thin,
structure, for the heat being rapidly conduct-
ed through them, the liability of fracture is
diminished. As strength is, however, often
required, and thicker vessels must be used,
the above principles of expansion and of con-
duction must be remembered when they are
employed.
In order to apply a small fire to a large
surface, they may be diffused by setting the
vessel in a sand or water bath, or, which is
convenient and more cleanly, a plate of sheet
metal or wire gauze may be placed between
the vessel and the fire. It is safer not to allow
the vessel to touch the plate or gauze. Iron
or brass gauze may be used, although fine
copper gauze is preferable, because it is more
durable.
Gas is by far the most economical source
of heat for small operations, it being always
ready for use, easily manageable and cleanly.
It may be conveniently led to any part of the
room through a flexible caoutchouc tube, for
which purpose one end is fitted with a brass
nozzle for attaching it to the supply-pipe; the
other end terminates in either an Argand or
Bunsen burner, or any other burner suitable
for the work intended. The Argand
burner consists of a small circle per-
forated with a great number of small holes,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
and requires a chimney. The Bvmsen burner
consists of a metal tube of a suitable shape
placed on the ordinary gas burner, and four
or five small holes are cut in the tube a little
below the gas flame. This burner gives a
strong heat, and -when properly made has
little if any smoke that will discolor the
article that is being heated. A good gas
flame for blow-pipe operations is made by
taking out the usual burner and filling up the
space with a little bunch of small binding
wire; or still better, if a brass nozzle is put
in the place of the burner with room enough
for a bunch of small binding wire larger in
diameter than the space occupied by the old
burner would admit of, it will produce a flame
particularly fitted for blow-pipe operations,
where a strong heat is required, while by re-
gulating the stopcock a flame can be obtain-
ed suitable for the most delicate of opera-
tions.
Very neat gas furnaces are made by W. F.
Shaw, of Boston. Those intended for work-
room purposes have a broad base to steady
their position on the table. Surmounting a
wire gauze diaphragm, is a perforated cylin-
der, with large openings near its top circum-
ference for the promotion of air currents.
These, by perfecting the combustion of the
burning mixture of air and gas, not only in-
crease its heating power, but prevent all
smoke and odor. It is necessary to add that
the meshes of the wire gauze should be kept
clean by the occasional application of a tooth
brush.
Gas being in general use in the large cities
and towns, an ample supply can always be
obtained; but in the country and in thinly
inhabited districts lamps must still be used-
Lamps can be so constructed that they will
produce a most intense heat by the use of
alcohol, wood spirit, kerosene, camphene,
and similar fluids, as fuel. Those hydro-
carburets which have the lowest boiling point,
and give the densest vapors, afford the great-
est heat. Alcohol flame gives no smoke or
unpleasant odor, the product of combustion
being only carbonic acid and water, while
lamp oil, especially where the supply of oil to
the wick is insufficient, produces a black car-
bonaceous deposit upon the bottom of the
vessel, which occasions a loss of heat by radi-
ation. Pyroxylic spirit is much less objec-
tionable than lamp oil, and is said to be much
cheaper than alcohol in heating capacity.
The many other advantages of the latter,
however, give it the preference over all other
combustibles as a fuel for lamps. It should
be about the specific gravity of 0.85 for this
purpose. When a lamp is not in use the wick
should always be covered with the extinguish-
er to prevent loss by evaporation.
The blow-pipe is an instrument that has
been long used in the arts, and in mechani-
cal pursuits, when small currents of intense
heat are desired. The forms of the various
blow-pipes in ordinary use must be familiar to
all ; still there are points in their construc-
tion to which we desire to direct special at-
tention. They are generally made in the
form of a tapering brass tube, and bent at the
smallest end to a right angle, but without a
sharp corner. Sometimes we find them
made in the shape of a long cone, with the
wide end stopped up, and a brass jefc with a
small hole through it inserted in the side of
the cone, near the wide end. This form has
the advantage of collecting the moisture with
which the air is charged as it comes from the
mouth, and prevents the moisture from inter-
fering with the flame that is being operated
upon. Its weight is, however, a considerable
drawback to its general use, especially in
operations where both hands are required to
be free in order to handle the work.
There are many forms and methods of con-
structing blow-pipes. Some of them have
ingeniously ai'ranged stands to support them
on the bench, thereby leaving the operator's
hands at liberty ; and these stands are of
much service in special operations. For all
ordinary purposes, probably the first men-
tioned blow-pipe, with a round ball added to
it, and placed about the centre, in order to
collect the moisture from the mouth, is as
good as any. The ball ought to be hollow, and
made so as it can be taken apart to allow the
condensed moisture to escape when the ball
becomes full. Some of the blow-pipes sold in
the tool shops have, to all appearance, this ball
placed on them merely as an ornament, for
sometimes we find the tube to pass through
the ball without any opening for the moisture
to collect in it, and consequently, in cases of
226
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
this sort, the ball is useless. The metals
blow-pipes are usually made of are very liable
to become dirty through oxidation, and when
placed between the lips are liable to impart a
disagreeable taste. To avoid this, the top of
the tube should . be supplied with a mouth-
piece of ivory or other suitable material,
shaped like the mouth-piece of a trumpet.
This construction of the blow-pipe, for use
at light work, has probably a combination of
all the advantages that can be claimed for
other forms. The moisture is collected and
does not pass to the flame ; it is light, and,
with the trumpet shaped mouth-piece, can be
held easily in the mouth between the gums
and the lips, without being in the least degree
tiresome. Both hands are left at liberty to
direct the work, while, by moving the head,
the direction of the flame can be instantly
changed, at a critical moment, which cannot
always be done when a stand is used to sup-
port the blow-pipe.
In using the blow-pipe, the effect intended
to be produced is an uninterupted, steady
etream of air for some minutes together, if
necessary, without an instant's cessation.
Therefore the blowing can only be effected
with the muscles of the cheeks, and not by
the exertion of the lungs. It is only by this
means that a steady, constant stream of air
can be kept up, while the lungs will not be
injured by the deprival of air. The details
of the proper manner of using the blow-pipe
are really more difficult to describe than to
acquire by practice ; therefore the apprentice
should apply himself at once to its practice,
by which he will soon learn to produce a
steady current of air. We would simply say
that the tongue must be applied to the roof of
the mouth, so as to interrupt the communica-
tion between the passage of the nostrils and
the mouth. The workman now fills his mouth
with air, which is passed through the blow-
pipe by compressing the muscles of the cheeks
while he breathes through the nostrils, and
uses the palate as a valve. "When the mouth
becomes nearly empty, it is replenished by
the lungs in an instant, while the tongue is
momentarily withdrawn from the roof of the
mouth. The stream of air can be continued
for a long time without the least fatigue or
injury to the lungs. The easiest way for the
apprentice to accustom himself to the use of
the blow-pipe, is first to learn to fill the mouth
with air, and while the lips are kept firmly
closed, to breath freely through the nostrils.
Having effected this much, he may introduce
the mouth-piece of the blow-pipe between his
lips, and by inflating the cheeks, and breath-
ing through the nostrils, he will soon learn to
use the instrument without the least fatigue;
the air being forced through the tube, against
the flame, by the action of the muscles of the
cheeks, while he continues to breath without
interruption through the nostrils. Having
become acquainted with this process, it only
requires some practice to produce a steady
jet of flame. A defect in the nature of the
combustible used, as bad oil, bad alcohol, etc.,
or a dirty cotton wick in the lamp, or an un-
trimmed one, will prevent a steady jet of
flame. But frequently the fault lies in the
small hole at the point of the blow-pipe being
stopped by dirt or soot, and which prevents
a steady stream of air, and leads to difficulty.
Platinum pointed blow-pipes keep their
shape better, and keep longer clean, than any
other metal.
Any flame of sufficient size can be used
for blow-pipe operations, but in special cases,
where smoke or other impurities would be
likely to damage the work in progress, an
alcohol lamp should be used ; but there
must be no loose threads or dirt of any kind
on the wick, or these will produce a smoky
flame. The wick, likewise, should not be
pulled up too high, as the same smoky flame
would be produced. In situations where it
is necessary to use a candle, it is well to cut
the wick off short, and to bend it a little
towards the article to which the heat is
desired to be applied. But candles are not
the best for blow-pipe operations, as the
radiant heat reflected from the substance
upon the wax or tallow will cause it to melt
and run down the side of the candle; while,
again, candles do not give heat enough.
When a current of air is directed through
a blow-pipe with a small straight aperture
against a flame, it drives the latter before it
in a long-pointed and conical projection.
To produce a clean and uniform flame the
tip end of the blow-pipe should barely pene-
trate the flame, and, when it is desired to
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
227
give it volume, it must be slightly parted in
the middle by drawing the tip of the blow-
pipe across it. Iu this latter case, too, the
blow-pipe should be directed at an angle of
forty-five degrees across this channel. In
blowing, the breath must be regulated, that
the blast should neither be too strong nor
too feeble ; for in the first instance the
excessive air cools the flame, and in the
latter the combustion is slow and imperfect.
The long, narrow, blue flame which appears
directly before the jet is the same as the blue
part of the flame before the blow-pipe was
applied to it, although changed in form,
being now concentrated into a small cylin-
drical space, whereas before it formed an
envelope around the whole flame. Just
before the point of this blue flame is the
greatest heat, just as in a free flame, but
with this difference — that in the latter case
it formed a ring around the flame, while in
the former it is concentrated into a focus.
It is thus rendered sufficiently intense to
fuse substances which were not sensibly
acted on by the flame in its usual state. On
this is founded the whole theory of the
intense heat produced by the blow-pipe ; the
effect which would otherwise be distributed
over the whole surface of the flame is con-
centrated into a small space, exactly as if
the flame had been turned inside out. The
surrounding illuminating portion of the flame
prevents the heat from escaping.
"When a flame is urged by the blow-pipe,
the extreme heat is just at the tip of the
outer white flame, where the combustion is
most perfect, and where substances are
rapidly burned or oxidized ; whilst the in-
terior blue flame, in consequence of its excess
of combustible matter, abstracts oxygen from,
or reduces, substances ; so that several metals,
when thus heated before the blow-pipe, are
alternately oxidized and deoxidized by being
placed in the outer and inner flame. For a
practical illustration of oxidizing and deoxi-
dizing, see page 219, VoL L of this Journal.
In connection with the subject of the
blow-pipe, a few remarks may be made as
to the material that is the most suitable for
holding or supporting the articles that are
being operated upon. Pumice-stone is often
used for this purpose, and it is very good,
but probably charcoal is the best for all
purposes. The value of charcoal as a mate-
rial for placing small articles upon when
under the influence of a flame from the
blow-pipe, is as follows : It is infusible, and,
being a poor conductor of heat, a substance
can be exposed to a higher degree of heat
upon it than upon any other substance.
The best kind of charcoal is that of pine,
linden, willow, alder, or any other soft wood.
Coal from fir wood sparkles too freely, while
that of the hard woods contains too much
iron in its ashes. Smooth pieces, free from
bark and knots, should be selected. It should
be thoroughly burnt, and the annual rings
or growths should be as close together as
possible. If the charcoal is in masses, it
should be sawed into pieces of convenient
length, but so that the year growths run
perpendicular to the broadest side, as the
other sides, by their unequal structures, burn
unevenly.
Such is a review of the subject of heat.
We have from time to time during the past
eight months discussed the nature of heat,
the laws of its transmission, and its effects
upon different substances, and some of the
methods by which it can be used in the
mechanical arts to the best advantage. The
writer was first induced to study the subject
while working out the difficult problem of
improving the compensation of pendulums.
The effects afld consequences of heat are so
visible all around us, and it is an agent that
is required to be so universally used in our
daily occupations — whether it be derived
from combustion or chemical mixture, or
any of the other sources — that a knowledge
of the subject is of the utmost importance
to all engaged in the mechanical arts. Let
our young friends study the subject well.
A clear comprehension of the laws of nature
makes many operations beautifully plain
which before appeared all mystery, and also
tends to inspire within us greater reverence
for the Great Architect of the Universe.
_ Clyde.
8@" Any of our friends that have a desire
to see to how many useful purposes electro-
plating with nickel may be applied, will te
gratified with a visit to the establishment of
L. L. Smith & Co., No. 6 Howard street, N.Y.
228
AMEBICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOUBNAL.
THE PENDULUM
.AS APPLIED TO THE
MEASUREMENT OF TIME
NUMBER TWO.
TERRESTRIAL GRAVITY CONTINUED THEORY OF THE
SIMPLE PENDULUM ILLUSTRATED TENDENCY TO
DESCRIBE AN ELLIPSE FOUCAULT's EXPERI-
MENT MATERIAL PENDULUM — CENTRE OF GRA-
VITY CENTRE OF GYRATION — CENTRE OF
OSCILLATION POINT OF SUSPENSION ANGULAR
PENDULUM — CONICAL PENDULUM, ETC.
In the last number we briefly investigated
the laws that govern falling bodies, and ob-
served that all bodies, irrespective of their
size, when under the influence of gravity alone,
fall with an equal velocity ; and that this
velocity is continually accelerated until the
body reaches its resting point. At the end
of a second of time, after being liberated, the
body attains a certain amount of speed, and
gravity continuing to act upon ir, as much
more velocity is imparted to it at the end of
the next second, and as much a^ain during
the third, and so on. We also noticed that
bodies acquire the same velocity in rolling
down the path of an inclined plane as they
do in falling from the same elevation in a
vertical line ; and also that the quickest way
for a body to travel between two points is
not always by following a straight line, but
by following a cycloidal curve from the one
point to the other. Gravity acte upon rising
bodies in the same manner as it does on fall-
ing bodies, but in a reversed order, thereby
producing continually a retarding motion
while the bodies are rising. Thus, a body
projected perpendicularly into the air, if not
influenced by the resistance of the air, would
rise to a height exactly equal to that from
which it must have fallen to acquire a final
velocity the same as it had at the first instant
of its ascent.
On the foundation of these conclusions,
which are to be found demonstrated mathe-
matically in any text-book on natural philos-
ophy, the whole theory of the oscillations of
a simple pendulum will be explained by the
following diagram.
ABC is a horizontal line, and I B F is a
cycloidal curve, the centre of which is the
point J. The lines I J and F J are lines
representing the evolute of the cycloid I B
F. The point H represents the centre of
oscillation of an imnginary pendulum. If
this point be allowed to follow the inclined
plane in the direction of B, the same kind of
motion will be produced, and it will have ac-
quired the tame velocity when it reaches B
as it would if it fell in a vertical line from H
to A ; and the velocity thus acquired will be
sufficient power, were it not for the resistance
of the air and friction, to cause it to ascend,
in the same time, from B up to E, as it took
to fall from H to B. The same result will
ensue, but in different portions of time, if the
point H be made to follow the lines I B or
G B ; in both cases the point H will have
acquired exactly the velocity on reaching B,
to cause it to ascend on the opposite side to
D or F in the same time as it took to descend
from I or G to B. If this point, H, be at-
tached to the thread K, and caused to follow
the cycloidal curve I B F, it will reach B in
the same time, from whatever point in the curve
it may have started from ; and will also have
obtained that velocity, on its descent, that is
required to cause it to ascend the same dis-
tance, in the same time, on the opposite side
of B, and equal to that from which it fell.
This explains the reason why the long and
short vibrations of a simple pendulum are
isochronal, or of equal duration, or performed
in the same length of time ; or, in other
words, the reason the pendulum always
moves faster in proportion as its journey is
longer, is, that in proportion as the arc de-
scribed is more extended, the steeper are the
declivities through which it falls, and the
more its motion is accelerated. Thus, if a
pendulum begins its downward motion at Ij
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOUENAL.
229
the accelerating force is twice as great as
■when it is set free at H. The reason why
long pendulums vibrate more slowly than
shoi-t ones, is, that in corresponding arcs, or
paths, the ball of the long pendulum has a
greater journey to perform, without having a
steeper line of descent. If we suppose three
balls, or points, to be attached to three
strings of the same length, it matters not
how unequal the balls may be in weight, if
we liberate them at the same time, one at I,
one at H, and the other at G, they will arrive
at B together, and each will have acquired a
momentum which would be sufficient, were
there no impediments to the motion, to carry
it to a distance on the other side of B, cor-
responding to the distance from which it fell.
This is the reason why heavy and light pen-
dulums vibrate in the same time if they be of
the same length.
It has been observed already, that in prac-
tice a pendulum cannot be made to describe
an exact cycloidal curve. In modern clock-
work the maximum vibration of a pendulum
need not be more than a degree and a half,
or two degrees, on each side of the point of
re-t ; and in that arc there is no difference
between the cycloidal and circular curve that,
in practice, makes itself visible by affecting
the isochronal properties of a pendulum.
Consequently, the pendulum may as well be
allowed to swing in a circle as to endeavor to
make it swing in a cycloid. If we take any
fine clock, that is constructed on the common
principle of maintaining the vibrations of the
pendulum directly from the weight, and in-
crease or diminish the weight, the length of
the vibrations will be diminished or increased
accordingly, and the rate of the clock will be
affected according to the kind of escapement
it may have. In the dead beat, or Graham
escapement, any increase in the vibration of
the pendulum has a tendency to make the
clock go slow ; but this change of rate does
not occur because the pendulum in not de-
scribing a cycloid, but because it makes larger
vibrations ; the pallets have a corresponding
increase of friction, by having to travel farther
on the teeth of the scape-wheel, and hence
the vibrations of the pendulum are slower.
If the error in the rate of the clock had its
origin in the pendulum describing a circular
curve instead of a cycloid, it is remarkable
that, under the same circumstances, a clock
with a recoiling escapement goes very much
faster as the vibrations increase. Almost any
one, who is not already aware of the fact, has
an opportunity of satisfying himself by direct
experiment of the different effects of increas-
ing the weight of a clock with a dead beat
escapement, and one with a recoiling one.
Ellipse. — If the bob of the simple pendulum
be slightly displaced, by any cause, it de-
scribes an ellipse, and its lowest position is
the centre of the ellipse. This ellipse may,
of course, become a straight line or a circle.
The bob does not accurately describe the
same line in successive revolutions ; in fact,
the elliptic orbit just mentioned rotates in its
own plane about its centre in the same direc-
tion as the bob moves, and with an angular
velocity nearly proportional to the area of
the ellipse. There is an interesting experi-
ment, which can be watched by any one who
will attach a small bullet to a fine thread, or,
still better, attach to the lower end of a long
string, fixed to the ceiling, a funnel full of
fine sand, or ink, which is allowed to escape
from a small hole. By this process a more
or less permanent trace of the motion is re-
corded by which the elliptic form of the path,
and the phenomena of progression, are well
shown. According to what is stated above,
there ought to be no progression if the pen-
dulum could be made to vibrate simply in a
straight line, as then the area of the elliptic
orbit would vanish. It is found, however, to
be almost impossible, in practice, to render the
path absolutely straight, so that there always
is, from this cause, a slight rate of change in
the position of the line of oscillation ; but as
the direction of this change depends on the
direction of rotation in the ellipse, it is as
likely to affect the motion in one way as in
the opposite, and is thus easily separable from
the very curious result obtained by the
French savant Foucault.
In his experiment, when a round body,
suspended by means of a flexible thread, is
230
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
once set to oscillate in a plane, it continues
to move in that plane if there be no disturb-
ing cause. M. Foucault took advantage of
this property in order to demonstrate the
diurnal rotation of the earth. If the earth
were at rest, the direction of the vibration
would remain the same, and would appear to
remain fixed ; but as the earth turns, the
plane of oscillation preserves its parallelism,
and that plane appears, in reference to sur-
rounding objects, to turn in the direction of
the apparent motion of the stars. This
beautiful experiment is of French origin, but
it was very successfully repeated in this
country at Bunker Hill monument, about
twenty years ago. We have, ourselves, tried
the experiment, and any one anxious to repeat
it must be careful to get as high and as firm
a support as can be had ; and great care
must be taken that the ball be symmetrical in
shape, and that no bias be given it at the out-
set, lest some of the complex movements we
have now been describing be induced.
Material Pendulum. — Up to the present
stage we have been considering the laws that
govern the simple or imaginary pendulum of
nature ; but as no such pendulum can exist,
or can be made by the hand of man, or ap-
plied for his benefit, we are obliged to con-
struct a material one, and as nearly as pos-
sible follow the laws of nature. Clock pen-
dulums are usually constructed with bobs of
a lenticular shape, or shaped like a lens, or a
disk — thick in the centre, and tapering to-
wards the edge — and is adopted principally
with a view of taking up as little room in the
thickness of the case as possible. It is a
mistake to suppose that this form is the one
best adapted to obviate the effects of the re-
sistance of the air on the motion of the
pendulum. The solid contents of a simple
sphere, or round ball, is greater than any
other shaped body of equal size ; conse-
quently, a bob of this shape is less affected
by the resistance of the atmosphere, because
it contains a greater amount of weight in a
smaller space, and presents less actual sur-
face exposed to the air than any other form
that can be devised. It, however, occupies a
greater amount of space in the thickness of a
clock case than can often be spared; still
there are many instances in which it might
be adopted oftner that what it is, especially
when utility does not require to be sacrificed
for the sake of appearance. In turret clocks
there is no reason why a spherical-shaped
pendulum bob should not always be used.
They are as cheaply made as those of a
lenticular or cylindrical pattern, and the pen-
dulums are more steady in their vibrations,
and less liable to be affected by currents of
air, than those having bobs of any other pat-
tern. Some may think that for the purpose
of very fine clocks these bobs do not afford
the same facilities for compensation as bobs
of other forms do; but when we come to con-
sider the subject of compensation we will
describe a method by which they are com-
pensated with the greatest nicety. Lead is
the best metal for pendulum balls of all
shapes, and should always be the principal
one used in their construction when it is
practicable. It occupies less space than any
other metal available, and is not influenced
by magnetism as iron is. It is a most im-
portant consideration in the making of bobs,
that care be taken to have the holes that pass
through them exactly in the centre of the
mass. When this is attended to, and other
parts are also right, there is not that tendency
for the pendulum to " wobble " that we so
often see, and which is so fatal to the regu-
larity of the clock. In constructing the rod,
no more metal should be used than is just
necessary to make it stiff enough not to bend
or yield by the vibration of the ball, and it
ought also to be shaped with a view of attain-
ing the same object — stiffness and lightness.
Wood is probably the best material that can
be employed for the rod of a cheap pendu-
lum, as it varies but little in length, and
therefore does not require compensation.
Some attribute the general good performance
of wood pendulums partly to the lightness of
the rod. Any wood is suitable for this pur-
pose that has a fine straight grain. The
wood ought to be split up, like laths, to near
the size desired, and when fitted ought to
extend the whole length of the pendulum,
from the suspension spring to the regulating
screw, and should be carefully protected from
damp by varnish, coated over several times,
taking special care to have any end wood that
may be exposed thoroughly saturated with
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
231
the varnish to protect the wood from the in-
fluence of damp.
In constructing pendulums, generally, there
is not that care taken with some of the im-
portant points that ought to be. It is usually
the last thing that is made about a clock, and
on that account the workmanship is often
hurried. It is also becoming too common to
consider the pendulum only as a showy ap-
pendage to the clock, whereas the fact is,
that the clock is but an appendage to the
pendulum. So far, indeed, are the wheels, or
any other part of the movement, from con-
tributing to the time of the pendulum, they
are mostly found to disturb it. In construct-
ing a material pendulum, whether it be a
plain or a compensated one, it ought to be a
point of prime consideration with the artist
to have all the weight that constitutes the
pendulum as much as possible concentrated
in the ball. A pendulum is a body revolving
about a fixed point or axis, and there are
points in it subject to the same rules as other
bodies in mechanics that revolve about a fixed
axis. In the imaginary pendulum the centre
of gravity, centre of gyration, and centre of
oscillation are all at the one point ; but in
the real, or material pendulum, they occupy
different points, according to the form of the
pendulum, and the weight of its rod, in pro-
portion to the weight of the ball. We shall
now proceed to consider these several points
briefly, and give rules by which they may be
found.
.Centre of Gravity is a point so situated, in
the centre of a body, or system of bodies that
are rigidly connected to each other, that any
plane whatever, that passes through it,
divides the body into two segments, the
weights of which are exactly equal. In
irregular shaped bodies, the place of this
point may be found mechanically, in several
ways. One method consists in suspending
the body, successively, from the different
points of its surface, and, by an attached
plumb-line, find, in each case, the direction
of the vertical line through the body when it
has come to rest. These lines will intersect
each other at a point, and this point will be
the centre of gravity of the body. The centre
of gravity of a material pendulum may be
determined mechanically by first balancing
it on a knife edge, and making a mark where
the knife edge is when the pendulum is
balanced. Afterwards, suspend the pendu-
lum and let it hang freely, then hang a fine
plumb-line from the same point of suspen-
sion, and the point at which the plumb-line
crosses the first line is the centre of gravity
of the pendulum.
Centre of Gyration of a body, or system of
bodies, is a point in which, if the whole mass
were collected, a force applied at any distance
from the axis of suspension would communi-
cate to the mass thus collected the same angu-
lar velocity that it would have communicated
to the system in its first condition. It is evi-
dent, from this definition, that the point in
question must have this property, that if the
whole mass were united in it, the moment of
inertia, or the power of resisting the effort of
any force, will be the same as the moment of
inertia of the body in its first state.
Centre of Oscillation is that point in a body,
or system of b odies rigidly attached to each
other, and oscillating about a fixed axis, into
which if the whole mass were collected, the
body would vibrate through a given angle, by
the force of gravity, in the fame time as in
its first condition. The centre of percussion
and the centre of oscillation in a pendulum
are at the same point. The method of deter-
mining the centre of oscillation of the ma-
terial pendulums was first given by Huyghens,
in his celebrated work, Horologium Oscitta-
forium. His demonstration is this : " That if
several weights, attached in any manner to
an inflexible rod or pendulum, descend by
the action of gravity, and if at any distance
they are detached, or disengaged from each
other, each of them, in virtue of the velocity
it had acquired during its descent, would
mount to such a height that the common
centre of gravity of all of them would reach
exactly the same height as that from which
it descended." The centre of oscillation may
be found by measurement, in the following
manner: If several bodies be fixed to an in-
flexible rod, and suspended from a point, and
each body be multiplied by the square of its
distance from the point of suspension, and
then each body be multiplied by its distance
from the same point, and all the former pro-
ducts, when added together, be divided by
232
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
the latter products added together, the quo-
tient will be the distance of the centre of
oscillation of tbese bodies from the said point.
I Thus, if A F be a rod, on which are
fixed the bodies B C D, at the
several points BCD, and if the
body B be multiplied by the square
of the distance A B, and C be multi-
plied by the square of the distance
A C, and so on the rest ; and then
if the body B be multiplied by the
distance A B, and C be multiplied
by the distance A C, and so on the
rest; and if the sum of the products
arising in the former case be divided
by the sum of those which arise in the latter,
the quotient will give A E to be the distance
of the. centre of oscillations of the bodies B,
C, D, etc. from the point A.
In the material pendulum, the centre of
oscillation is not always at a fixed point in
the same pendulum, but varies in relation to
the part where the spring bends. The centre
of gravity differs from it in this respect, that
it is a point that is always at the same place
in the same pendulum, but generally both
points are above the centre of the ball. In a
wood rod pendulum, about 10 lbs. weight,
the centre of gravity is about .8 of an inch,
and the centre of oscillation about .1 of an
inch above the centre of the ball. In a Grid-
iron pendulum of the heaviest class, weigh-
ing in all about ldh lbs., the centre of gravity
is about 4.75 inches, and the centre of oscil-
lation about 2.30 above the centre of the
ball. In a Gridiron pendulum, with the ball
much lighter in proportion to the weight of
the rod, and weighing about 16| lbs. in all,
the centre of gravity is about 7 inches above
the centre of the ball, and the centre of oscil-
lation 3 inches ; which will give some idea
how these points vary according to circum-
stances.
Point of Suspension. — In all our investiga-
tions, the point of suspension of the pendulum
has been supposed to be absolutely immova-
ble ; but in a mathematical sense there is no
substance which does not yield to the pres-
sure applied to it, and therefore, as the pen-
dulum swings from side to side, the point of
suspension oscillates also, and the w7hole
frame-work becomes truly a part of the
vibrating mass. There are many well au-
thenticated instances where a number of
clocks, placed in close proximity to each
other, would, under certain conditions, dis-
turb each other's motion. The one would
stop the pendulum of the other, and after a
time the stopped pendulum would resume its
vibration, and in its turn stop the others ;
and so they would continue to stop and start
again in alternate succession. This state-
ment, at first, may seem incomprehensible,
but it is easily explained by the following
experiment: Attach the ends of a string to
two supports (the walls of a room for in-
stance), and, from somewhere near the centre
of the cord, suspend two balls on two pieces
of cord of equal length, in the same manner
as shown in the diagram. If we set the one
ball vibrating while the other is at rest, the
moving ball will immediately communicate
its motion to the other. The ball that was at
rest will gradually increase its vibrations in
proportion as the other falls off, and finally
the first started one will come to a stand-
still, then gradually resume its motion, while
the other will, in its turn, stop, and start
again, and in like manner they will continue
till they both come to rest. "While we write
we have a string stretched from the two
windows of a corner room, and two empty
ink bottles of the same size suspended from
it. They continue to swing, to stop and start
alternately, with the greatest regularity, till
finally they both come to rest. The pendu-
lums of clocks are stopped and started again
exactly from the same cause as these tempo-
rary pendulums we speak of. If two clocks
be firmly placed on the same table, and if the
table be very loose in its joints, and be
shakey, the same phenomena will occur as
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
233
happened in -the case of the two balls sus-
pended from the loose string, and from the
same cause, namely, the point of suspension
of the one pendulum yielding to the motion
of the other. If the same clocks be placed
together on a firmer support, they may not
be entirely stopped, but the effect will be
visible on their rates, if they be fine clocks,
and are closely watched.
Conical Pendulums. — If we suspend a
slender rod, with a ball attached to the end
of it, in such a manner that it will swing
freely in every direction, and impart to it a
circular motion, it will describe a cone, the
base of which will vary in diameter in pro-
portion to the force of the circular motion
that has been given to it. Pendulums that
are the proper length to vibrate seconds in
the usual way, if made to revolve in a circle,
and describe a cone, will only make one revo-
lution in about two seconds ; and one that
vibrates twice will only make about one
revolution in a second ; and pendulums of
other lengths will give the same results in a
like proportion. This kind of pendulum is
frequently applied to clocks that are intended
for bedrooms of invalids, or in hospitals, or
in other situations where silence is an object,
and the usual ticking of a clock is objection-
able. Of late years large quantities of such
clocks have been manufactured in Connecti-
cut, and on the continent of Europe. Pen-
dulums of this construction are more liable to
vaiy from irregularities in the motive power
that drives them, than vibrating ones are ;
still, we have seen clocks of this sort go well
enough for all ordinary household purposes,
when great care is taken to have the wheel
work accurate, and the main-spring properly
adjusted by a fusee. Conical pendulums are
sometimes applied, in Europe, to regulate the
motion of chronographs, and the clock-work
that drives equatorial mounted telescopes.
In such cases it is desirable, in fact it is im-
perative, that a regular continuous motion
should be given to the instrument, free from
the usual jumping or intermittent^, motion
that exists in clock-work regulated by a vi-
brating pendulum. A conical pendulum gives
a continuous motion, but it cannot be made
to give a regular one, although many supple-
mentary contrivances have been devised for
the pvirpose of helping it to do so. The
necessity of using this kind of pendulum for
this purpose, has of late years been entirely
obviated by the invention made by the late
Mr. R. F. Bond, of Boston, for converting the
intermittent motion that exists in clock-work
that is regulated by the vibrations of a pen-
dulum, into that of a uniform continuous mo-
tion, and at the same time retain the accuracy
that is derived from the vibrating pendulum.
All American chronographs, and the clocks
of American equatorial mounted telescopes,
and also some European ones, are made on
this principle. No other plan yet devised
appears to give more satisfactory results in
producing that accurate rotary motion so
necessary in certain astronomical instru-
ments. A description of this invention has
already appeared in the first volume of the
Journal, but we shall take further notice of
it when we come to consider the subject of
escapements.
Angular Pendulums are formed of two
pieces or legs, like a sector, and suspended
by the angular point A. This pendulum is
constructed with a view of diminishing the
length of the common pendulum, but at the
same time to maintain, or even increase, the
times of vibration. In this pendulum the
time of vibration depends on the length of
the legs, and on the angle contained between
them conjointly — the duration of the time of
vibration increasing with the angle ; conse-
quently, a pendulum of this construction may
234
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
be made to oscillate in any given time. At
the lower extremity of each leg of the pendu-
lum is a ball or bob, as usual ; and if it vi-
brate half seconds when its legs are closed,
it will vibrate whole seconds when the legs
are opened, so as to contain an angle equal
to 151° 2' 30". This pendulum is used on
occasions when it is desirable to have a pen-
dulum vibrate long portions of time, and
when the situation will not admit of one of
the usual construction ; but it is not suited
for any purpose where accuracy is required.
The difficulty of compensating it, and the
great and fatal tendency it has to " wooble,"
or to swing in an elliptical plane, renders it
unsuitable for purposes where precision is an
object.
We once applied it to an ornamental
French clock, with a movement in it that re-
quired a pendulum much longer than the
height of the case would allow to swing.
The result was satisfactory as regards the
slowness of the vibrations, but the regularity
of the time was not as good as that of a pen-
dulum of the usual construction. When in-
stances of this kind occur, as they sometimes
do, if filing a little off the ball has not the de-
sired effect, it is always cheaper and better
either to alter the train or get another move-
ment.
When a clock has to be placed in a build-
ing where there is not sufficient room for the
pendulum near the dials, it is always prefer-
able to place the movement in some situation
where there is room, and make a connection
between the movement and the dials by means
of shafting made of light tubing.
An opinion is prevalent among some people
that watches and clocks are in principle the
same, and it is true that to a limited extent
they are. The wheel and pinion work of both
class of instruments, up to the escapement,
are in principle the same. The main-spring
and fusee, and also the going barrel, are used
in both clocks and watches as occasion inay
require ; still, although these parts be the
same in principle, how few think of the
scheming and planning necessary in arrang-
ing them to answer all the requirements of
the particular purpose intended. To con-
struct a watch, and arrange the component
parts so that the watch, or its case, will con-
form to every caprice of fashion, and at the
same time be a safe and reliable time-keeper,
or to construct a clock to fit a building where
some unaccommodating architect, considering
all that was necessary for the clock was to
leave holes in the walls for the dials, involve
questions altogether different from each
other, and bear but little resemblance, further
than in both instances they are often ill re-
quited labors, if the artist has a conscientious
desire to have his machine mechanically cor-
rect. The modes of reasoning, and the
principles that are involved in perfecting the
marine chronometer, are altogether different
from those for improving the astronomical
clock ; and in reality there is but little simi-
larity between watches and clocks, except
that they are both used for the same purpose
— that of measuring time. To such of our
readers as may not be familiar with all the
questions involved in adapting the pendulum
for measuring time, we would advise them,
in studying this subject, to banish from their
minds all theories about watch or chronome-
ter balances, and balance springs, and their
various peculiarities, because they bear no
parallel to the subject under consideration.
We have described the laws that govern
the motion of a pendulum, and the peculiari-
ties of the various forms of pendulums used
for measuring time. Before entering upon
the question of compensation, and the general
effects of heat and cold upon pendulums, we
shall first consider some of the causes that
tend to disturb their natural vibrations, and
in the next number begin with those that
arise from the mechanism of the clock, and
the influence the various forms of escape-
ments exert upon the pendulum in maintain-
ing its vibrations, and counting or registering
their number, through the agency of the
hands moving on the dial.
NICKEL
A metal of grayish white color, nearly
silver white, possessing magnetic properties
inferior to iron, but greater than cobalt, but
which are destroyed by a heat of about 660°.
It is ductile and malleable, both hot and
cold, and may be drawn into wire one-fiftieth
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
235
of an inch in thickness, and rolled into plate
one five-hundredth. A small quantity of
arsenic destroys its ductility ; a small quan-
tity of cobalt improves both its ductility and
color; when fused it has a specific gravity of
8.27, and when hammered, 8.66 to 8.82. It
has a high melting point (1,900 to 2,100 C).
It cannot be fused in a common metallurgical
furnace ; one per cent, copper and a small
quantity of sulphur render it fusible in a
good air furnace. Pure nickel, when taken
from the reducing vessel, possesses metallic
lustre ; adhering drops of glass indicate the
.presence of an alkali ; if the drops are blue,
cobalt is present ; if yellow, iron.
It is but little acted on by dilute acids,
and, unlike silver, is not affected by sulphu-
retted hydrogen. Heated in contact with
the air it assumes various tints like steel, and
becomes coated with a green oxide. Native
nickel has been found in small quantities, but
is usually associated with arsenic, copper,
cobalt, silver, and iron, and is an ingredient
always found present in meteoric stones, in
the form of an alloy of iron and nickel.
It is found in Saxony, Bavaria, Hungary,
Bohemia, France, and England..
The cobalt ores are the most productive for
commercial purposes. Kupfer -nickel is an
arseniuret, and is usually associated with the
copper ores ; the old German miners re-
garded it as a kind of false copper, and
termed it nickel by way of contempt. It is
not necessary, and would be foreign to our
purpose, to go into a detail of the various
processes for obtaining the pure metal ; it is
used exclusively as an alloy, and comes into
market in the form of granulations, of the
size of a small bean, or in'small cubes ; when
alloyed with copper, in small cakes like re-
fined copper. Argentina, nickel silver, albata,
new silver, white copper, German silver,
are a few of the names used in trade for this
alloy of copper and nickel. We know of no
practical use the pure metal is put to except
for plating.
All the nickel watch movements (that are
not brass whitened with silver) are some
alloy of nickel and copper, usually the twenty
per cent. German silver ; the proportions of
such alloys varying with the uses to which
they are to be applied.
M. Gersdorf, of Vienna, says, that wh^n in-
tended as a substitute for silver, it should be
composed of
Nickel 50
Copper 25
Zinc 25
100
An alloy better adapted for rolling is,
Copper 60
Zinc 20
Nickel 25
100
For casting,
Copper 60
Zinc 20
Nickel 20
100
An addition of 2.21 per cent of iron, in the
form of tin plate, adds to its whiteness, but
at the same time renders it harder and more
brittle.
Keferstein has given the analysis of gen-
uine German silver, as made from the original
ore found in Hildberghausen :
Copper 40 4
Nickel :.... 31.6
Zinc 25.4
Iron 2.6
100.00
Chinese packfong, according to the same
authority, consists of 5 parts copper, 7 parts
nickel, 7 parts zinc.
A very inferior quality of German silver
(so called) is copper whitened with arsenic.
To form this alloy, successive layers of copper
clippings and white arsenic are put into an
earthen crucible, covered with sea salt, closed
with a lid, and gradually heated to redness.
If two parts of arsenic have been used with
five of copper, the resulting compound con-
tains one-tenth of its weight of metallic ar-
senic. It is white, slightly ductile, denser
and more fusible than copper, and is not
acted upon by oxygen at ordinary tempera-
tures; but at a higher heat is decomposed,
with an exhalation of arsenious acid. This
whitened c opper has no doubt given rise to
the popular notion that German silver is
poisonous when used in the form of forks,
spoons, etc., as table furniture. No doubt
but the chemical product of the decomposi-
tion of albata, by remaining a long time in
any domestic compounds containing an acid,
might be deleterious ; but illness produced
236
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
from such a cause would be just retribution
for the sin of untidy housewifery ; the fear of
poisoning the family has kept many a spoon
and fork clean that might otherwise have
been — otherwise.
The white copper of the Chinese is identi-
cal in its composition with the German silver
of Hildberghausen. It is very sonorous,
nearly silver white, takes a good polish, is
malleable at a cherry-red heat, and at com-
mon temperature, but at white heat is very
brittle.
German silver has become almost as indis-
pensable as brass ; the amount used for
spoons and forks alone is enormous, and is
produced by a very few concerns for all the
multitude of plated ware manufacturers of
German silver. Probably no company in the
country furnishes a larger amount to the
manufacturers than the Scoville Manufactur-
ing Company, of Waterbury, Ct. The qual-
ity is known by the per cent, of nickel in its
composition; that mostly used for spoons and
forks by all the reliable makers is eighteen per
cent, of nickel; some parties use as low as six
per cent., and consequently can offer to the
dealers larger discounts than can possibly be
given on eighteen per cent, goods. Pure
nickel is coming into notice extensively of late
in electro-plating; it can be deposited on
baser metals in exactly the same manner as
silver, giving a coating of any desirable thick-
ness, which is much harder than silver, nearly
as white, and not readily oxidizable by atmos-
pheric exposure ; it has already become a
very useful branch of the electro-metallurgic
art.
WATCH BRASS.
To a really mechanical mind, the satisfac-
tion of knowing how a thing is done is suffi-
cient reward for the labor and time bestowed
upon the acquisition of such knowledge.
And the ability to answer any query that
may be raised touching any mechanical art,
is a most sure and certain method to gain
the reputation of being thoroughly learned
in your own occupation. Of particular in-
terest to our trade is the manufacture of sheet
brass ; and probably no company in the
country excels the Scoville Manufacturing
Company in the production of watch and
clock brass — a business which the exigency
of demand has developed so successfully as
to drive the foreign article from our market.
A large share of the brass and nickel for
all the American watches is made in Water-
bury, Conn. All compounds in part nickel
are here called " German silver." Five per
cent, nickel is the lowest quality ; eighteen
per cent, is considered excellent; twenty-two
per cent, is very white and hard, and is made
only for watch movements. The process for
making German silver is nearly the same as
for brass. The varieties of brass are almost
endless — spring brass, engravers' brass, Reid
brass, gilding metal, tough brass for lamp-
burners, composition bearings for cotton
machinery, watch brass, etc., all of which are
different mixtures. A compound good for
one purpose would not answer for another ;
consequently, the use to which the brass is
applied must be known, to adapt it to that
particular purpose. The watch manufac-
turers require brass that will turn and drill
free, and at the same time it must be per-
fectly sound, hard, and of good quality.
About the last thing done to the watch move-
ment is gilding, and if there are any imperfec-
tions in the surface, the gilding process will
show it up. Soundness is the thing particu-
larly essential in watch brass, which quality
depends entirely upon the casting, which
must be done with great care. A good
caster requires great practical experience, as
everything must be done exactly at the right
moment. The metal is melted in pots, or
crucibles, that hold about 12 lbs. each, and
is cast in bars, or slabs, 3| inches wide, 18
inches long, and one inch thick.
Brass casting is neither a cool, nor a
pleasant job. The workmen commence as
early as three or four o'clock in the morning
in summer, and finish by twelve to two o'clock
p. m. Dense white fumes arise from the
melting spelter, filling the shop with a thick
vapor of oxide of zinc, which in a few hours
covers the workmen as completely as if rolled
in ashes; the only pleasant thing about the
business is the forty to sixty dollars per week,
for the most skilled labor.
After casting, the bars are thrown into the
muffle (like an oven), where they remain all
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
237
night at a red heat, and are drawn out in the
morning and allowed to cool off; next they
are taken to the immense shears, and the
gate or unsound end is cut off as easily as a
boy would bite off a stick of candy. The next
operation is " breaking down." The metal is
rolled, annealed, pickled, and rolled again, till
reduced to j? inch in thickness; the huge rolls
and frame weigh 2,4:00 lbs.; each roll is 20
inches in diameter, 36 inches long, and weighs
4,000 lbs. The finishing rolls are 18 inches in
diameter. It is no uncommon thing to break
three or four of these large rolls in a year ;
even the massive frames sometimes give out.
The sheets are now about 5 feet long, and
must next undergo the " scalping " operation.
The sheet is clamped on a long, narrow
table, movable at the will of the workman,
up or down, right or left, under a sort of hoe
that shaves or digs off all the surface of the
metal, and when there is a flaw or an appear-
ance of unsoundness, the hoe digs away till
it is all clear and sound ; next the sheet is
rolled, annealed, and pickled, and then goes
to the " scratchers," where it is all scraped
over again with the same kind of hoe, and all
the imperfections dug out by hand. Next
the brass is rolled down to No. 14. Brown &
Sharpe's gauge, annealed, pickled, and run
through the rolls several times, till brought
to the proper degree of hardness and thick-
ness. If for top plates, No. 17, or ^ inch in
thickness.
"With these 20-inch hardened rolls it is
impossible to roll several sheets of hard
brass and have them just the same thickness
throughout. It will be a little thicker in the
"centre, and the watch manufacturers will not
allow in the upper plate a variation of -fa m.
in thickness. After being rolled, the sheets
are all gauged, and such as are not true to
the gauge are re-cast, after entailing a loss of
one-third.
When very hard brass is required, say No.
20, finished, the roller commences with the
sheet soft; — jL- inch thick, or No. 10 — runs
it through the rolls five or six times, reducing
the thickness a little each time, till brought
down to ■£% inch in thickness. After a certain
limit brass will crack and break up under
the rolls.
At the commencement the bar is 3| inches
wide, and after rolling down to ^j-th, it is
over four inches wide, and eight to ten feet
long. Of course the flaws, blow-holes, and
all other imperfections are proportionally
enlarged. Probably the greatest density
and hardness possible to attain is by taking,
say, a round blank i inch thick, one inch
diameter, confine the edges in a hardened
steel ring, rendering it impossible to spread
laterally ; place it over a die, and strike it
two or three good blows with a drop weigh-
ing 300 or 400 lbs., and it will be as hard as
can be made. This plan would not be prac-
ticable for watch plates, owing to the impos-
sibility of obtaining uniformity of thickness.
The hard sheet brass is next taken to the
power press, and the blanks cut out at the
rate of eighty per minute ; the blanks for
the framework of the movement, and all the
thick parts, — bottom and top plates, bairel,
cover and bridge, cock and potence, ring for
expansion, balance, etc. It requires over
20 lbs. of sheet brass for 10 lbs. of blanks ;
for balance rings, it takes 24 oz. brass for 3^
oz. rings, or 50 balances.
The metal for the wheels, called Lancashire
brass, must necessarily be very hard and
strong, or the teeth would crumble off. It
has always been imported from England till
within the last two years. The present su-
perintendent of the rolling mill, Mr. E. D.
Tuttle (than whom there is no man takes
more pride in his profession), determined
not to be excelled on the other side of the
water, and succeeded, after considerable ex-
perimenting, in producing wheel brass that
is pronounced by the leading manufacturers
of American watches to be superior to any
imported. This brass, and the dial copper,
is sent to the factories in sheets, and the
blanks cut as described in former numbers of
the Hokological Journal.
The above description of watch brass will
also be of interest and service to all engaged
in the manufacture of fine clocks, as well as
every other description of fine machinery.
All workmen realize the difficulty of obtain-
ing good brass, and how unsuitable the
ordinary brass of commerce is for the manu-
facture of light wheels with delicate teeth,
and at the same time having the necessary
amount of strength and stiffness.
238
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
F. I. W., Bishopthorpe.— Amber is a hard,
solid, semi-transparent substance, found in
some mines of Prussia, in a bed of argillaceous
mineral. It is also found in Poland, France,
Italy, on the shores of the Baltic and Medi-
terranean, in the vicinity of London, and
various other parts of England. It is gener-
ally supposed to be of vegetable origin, and
to be composed of bituminous vegetable
matter in a state of congelation. The extra-
ordinary property which amber has of attract-
ing, when excited by friction, light bodies,
such as feathers,, bits of paper, pith, dust,
etc., etc., was known to Thales, the great phi-
losopher of Miletus, who nourished 600 years
before the birth of Christ. The Greek term
for amber is electron, and from this comes the
title of electricity; the effect of excited amber
in attracting light substances being attributed
to its electric powers. It is found of various
colors, but the most common is a deep j^ellow
or orange. When broken the fracture is
smooth and glossy, and is susceptible of a
fine polish. If gently rubbed it emits a slight
agreeable odor. At a temperature of 550°
Fahr. it melts, which destroys its transparen-
cy. It is insoluble in water, but highly recti-
fied alcohol extracts a slight portion of its
coloring matter. Sulphuric acid dissolves it,
and then it may be precipitated by water.
Pare caustic alkalies also dissolve it, and some
of the essential oils.
C. B. M., Mo. — The best method is to buy
a quantity of diamond splints or bort, and if
no splint can be found suitable for a drill,
and you have no diamond mortar to break or
crush it in, put a piece of the " bort " in
some writing paper, carefully wrapping it up,
and lay the paper on a piece of flat steel, and
give it a sharp, but not very hard stroke, with
a flat- face hammer; then carefully open the
paper, and select a splinter suitable for the
size drill that you want. Now drill a hole in
the end of a piece of brass wire, of suitable
length. The drill used must be about the
size of the diamond splinter, or if the splinter
is much wider in one direction than another
the hole in the brass wire should be somewhat
smaller than the widest direction of the
splinter; now turn down the end of the wire
having the hole in it to a taper, and with the
plyers mash the end so as to shape the hole
to fit the splinter as nearly as possible, and
then insert the splinter and carefully press
the brass around it so as to hold it fast, and
if you are able to use the burnisher to advan-
tage, such as is used for rubbing in jewels, you
can burnish or rub it in and make a good job.
Now turn off any surplus brass and you have
your drill ready for use. Great care will have
to be exercised in using, or you will break it.
In drilling always keep the stone wet with
water; jewellers usually wet the drill by ap-
plying it to the tongue.
L. K., 27/. — Your questions receive 1. Will
answer No. 1 without going into mathemati-
cal details, which it is probable (from your
question No. 4) you might not fully under-
stand. To find the numbers for a lost wheel
and pinion, you must first find the number
of revolutions the escape-wheel makes in an
hour; this you can do by counting the vibra-
tions of the balance and spring belonging to
it. Two vibrations are made (by a lever) to
every tooth of the escape-wheel ; ordinarily,
14,400 are made to one revolution of the
centre wheel (1 hour); two vibrations to a
tooth, and fifteen teeth to the wheel, give
thirty vibrations to one revolution of escape-
wheel, gives 480 revolutions of the escape-
wheel in one hour. Assume the train to be
made up of
Centre wheel 80 teeth pinion 10 leaves.
Third " 75 " pinion 10 "
Fourth " G4 " pinion 8 "
Escape "' 15 "
Multiply the number of revolutions of
escape-wheel, 480, by the number of leaves
in its pinion, 3^473-, the number of leaves
that must pass in an hour. Imagine the
fourth wheel and pinion gone, which leaves
a gap in the computation sought to be filled.
Now begin computation at the centre wheel,
which turns the third wheel pinion (of 10)
eight times in an hour, which causes a pas-
sage of 8 X 75 (teeth of the third wheel)
= 600, which brings us up to the lost
(fourth) wheel, which wheel, with its pinion,
must bring the number of teeth passing up
to the escape-wheel pinion (which we found
to be 3,840). Now this number, 3,840, di-
vided by 600 (the number produced by the
AMERICAN HGROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
239
train up to the lost wheel), gives Of, which
will be the multiplier to any pinion you
choose to put in the place of the lost one,
viz., pinion of 10X6t = 64, tne number of
teeth required in the wheel, if you use that
pinion. If you assume the pinion to be
8 X 6-f , it will give you 51i for the number
of teeth in the wheel, which is impossible,
being fractional. Take for illustration an-
other train which beats secorids 3,600 to the
hour; gives 120 revolutions to the^escape-
wheei, the train being
60 Centre wheel.
50 Third wheel pinion of 10
40 Fourth " " 10
15 Escape " " 10
One hundred an I twenty revolutions of
the escape-wheel, multiplied by 10 leaves in
its pinion, produces 1,200 ; the fourth wheel
being lost, we must go back to the centre
wheel, and reckon the teeth up to the lost
wheel, which will be 300, making the fourth
wheel and pinion * §#§'== 4, the multiplier for
th<: lost wheel. You can use a
Pinion of lfc X 4 gives wheel of 4} teeth.
" 12X4 " " 43 "
41 8X4 " " 32 "
" 6X4 " " 24 "
Either one of these wheels and pinions
will fill the requirements, but a pinion of six
or eight would be too small, and one of
twelve too large. Consequently, ten and
forty are the proper numbers.
By the same process you can determine
the numbers for any lost wheel of the train ;
the size you can get from the old holes, or
you may calculate it; the radius (| diameter)
of the wheel and pinion should be to each
other as the numbers of the teeth in the
wheel and pinion.
Question No. 2. Know no difference be-
tween the American and Swiss; except in the
form of the lever, the principles are exactly
the same in both.
No. 3. Never heard of Hopkins' Jewelry
Took
No. 4 requires too detailed an answer.
Perhaps you can get an idea from the answer
to your first question. There may be some-
thing on that subject in future numbers of
the Jouenal.
C. E., Col. — To harden and temper a chro-
nometer balance spring you must first wrap
the flattened steel wire, from which it is made,
around a block that has spiral grooves care-
fully cut in it to receive the wire, fastening
the two ends of the wire to !the block by
screws. The whole is then covered up with
carbon, and heat is applied in the manner
described in the article on " Heat," in the
March No. of the Jouenal. It is not abso-
lutely necessary that it be carbon that the
spring is covered up with, as any other simi-
lar substance will do, for the whole object of
covering it up is only to protect it from the
action of the atmosphere when being heated,
and thereby prevent oxidization, and preserve
the clear lustre the steel has previous to
hardening. After being hardened it should
be brushed clean, while on the block, and care-
fully colored to a blue ; we prefer that it
should be a deep blue. Jurgensen, of Copen-
hagen, and others, have experimented exten-
sively on gold balance springs ; but when
placed on trial in competition with steel ones,
the steel springs in all cases prove the best.
Gilding steel springs, or varnishing them,
tends to interfere with their elasticity, and we
know of no way of remedying the evil of rust.
The most rigid care must be taken to keep
the springs from damp, but where there is a
damp atmosphere this is a matter of much
difficulty. The subject of chronometers ac-
celerating on their rates when a new spring
has been applied, will be considered in a
future No. of the Jouenal.
A. B. M., Texas. — You can procure a new
escapement for your French clock from Mr.
G. A. Huguenin, 64 Nassau street, N. Y. We
saw some there lately of the description that
will suit you.
A. K., Ohio. — There is a great advantage
gained by using conical shaped pivots, they
not being so easily broken as straight ones
that have a square shoulder.
C. K., Buffalo. — The tower clock on the old
State House in Philadelphia has an escape-
ment such as you describe. It is a dead beat
one, but the pallets are attached directly on
the pendulum, and the pendulum works in a
plane with the scape-wheel. This manner of
constructing the dead-beat escapement is
rare, and the advantages gained are more
imaginary than real.
GL E. M., Ky. — Bond's chronograph must
240
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
not be confounded with what is known as
chronograph watches. It consists of a cylin-
der, about twelve inches long and six inches
in diameter, and mechanism to produce a
continuous and uniformly regular motion of
the cylinder. The regularity of the motion is
produced by a pendulum, and the uniformity
by Bond's spring governor. A sheet of paper
is attached to the cylinder, and the observer
registers his observations by means of an
electrical recording apparatus, the sheets being
bound and preserved for reference. Greater
accuracy in dividing small portions of time is
obtained than by any other method of either
American or European origin.
M. L. J., Me. — Cleaning Yankee clock
movements, when together, by boiling them
in water, or by the use of benzine, turpen-
tine, or any other fluid, is not to be recom-
mended. Any of these methods may be used
in cleaning the brass and steel work, if
judiciously used ; but in every case common
sense will teach that the clocks should be
taken to pieces, every tooth brushed, and
every pivot hole pegged out. If people will
not pay for this trouble, decline their custom.
It will pay you in the end.
T. C, Mass. — There are about as many ways
of polishing or glossing brass as there are
workmen doing it. Probably the French
excel all others in this matter. Their secret
is said to be a mixture of Castile soap and
rotten or blue stone, wx*ought with brandy.
E. M., N. Y. — Although closing pivot holes
with punches is sometimes resorted to, it is a
practice not always to be recommended.
Wide holes should be bushed.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
C3-- IB. MILLER,
229 Broadioay, N. T.,
At $2.50 per Year, payable in advance,
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, loill be
received.
B®*" Mr. Morritz Grossmann, Glashutte,
Saxony, is authorized to receive subscriptions, or
transact any buaitiess for this Journal.
B®~ Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, Mw York.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For April, 1871.
M
Day
of
Mon.
Sidereal
v Time
of
the Semi-
Equation
of
Time to be
Added to
Equation
of
Time to be
Subtracted
Diff.
for
Sidereal
Time
or
Right ':
Aseension '.
diameter
Passing
the
Meridian.
Subtracted
froin
from
One
Hour.
o
Added to
of
Q
Apparent
Time.
Mean Time.
Mean Sun.
s.
M. s.
M. s.
a.
H. M. s.
Sal.
1
64.50
4 0.34
4 0.39
0.760
0 37 36.90
Sn.
2
64.52
3 42.14
3 42.20
0.757
0 41 33.45
M,,
3
64 54
3 24.06
3 24.10
0.751
0 45 30 00
Tu
4
64. 5G
3 6.09
3 6 13
0.745
0 49 26.56
W
fi
64.58
2 48 29
2 48.32
0.737
0 53 23.11
Th
fi
64.61
2 30.67
2 30.70
0.729
0 57 19 06
Fri
7
64.64
2 13.26
2 13.29
0.720
1 1 16.22
Sat
8
64.67
1 56.08
1 56.11
0.710
1 5 12.77
Sn
9
64.71
1 39.15
1 39.17
0.699
1 9 9.32
M..
10
64.75
1 22 48
1 22.49
0.688
1 13 5.88
Tu.
11
64.79
1 6.09
1 6.10
0.676
1 17 2.43
W.
12
64.84
0 50.00
0 50.01
0.664
1 20 58.98
Th.
13
64.88
0 34.23
0 34 24
0.650
1 24 55.54
Fri
14
64.93
0 18.81
0 18.82
0.636
1 28 52.09
Sat
15
Ifi
64.98
65.03
__0 3.74
0 10.98
0 3.74
0.621
0.606
1 32 48.64
Sn.
6 10.98
1 36 45.20
M\.
17
65.08
0 25.32
0 25.32
0.590
1 40 41.75
Tn.
18
65 14
0 39.20
0 39.26
0.573
1 44 38 30
w.
19
65.20
0 52.81
0 52.82
0.556
1 48 34.86
Th.
20
65.26
1 5.96
1 5.97
0.539
1 52 31 41
Fri
21
65 32
1 18.09
1 18.70
0.521
1 56 27.97
Sat
22
65.39
1 30.98
1 30.99
0.503
2 0 24.52
S.i.
23
65 46
1 42.83
1 42.84
0.484
2 4 21.07
M..
24
65.53
1 54.24
1 54.25
0.465
2 8 17.62
Tu.
25
65 60
2 5.18
2 5.20-
0.446
2 12 14.18
w.
26
65.67
2 15.64
2 15.68
0.426
2 16 10.74
Th.
27
65.74
2 25.64
2 25.68
0.406
2 20 7.29
Fri
28
65 80
2 35.17
2 35.20
0.386
2 24 3.85
Sat
29
65.88
2 44 21
2 44.23
0.366
2 28 0.41
Su.
30
65.92
2 52.74
2 52.76
0.345
2 31 56 96
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.18 s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. II. M.
© Full Moon 5 2 23.0
( Last Quarter 1117 51.7
@ New Moon 19 7 3 4
) FirstQuarter 27 1147.5
D. H.
( Perigee t. . 7 20
C Apogee 22 19.7
O I II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48.1
H. M. S.
Long. Harvard Ob«ervatory 4 44 29.05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20. 572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT APPARENT MERID.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAGE.
D. H. M. S. oil H- M-
Venus 1 2 24 13. 71.... +14 23 44.7 146.7
Jupiter.... 1 b 17 40. 49. ... + 22 55 5.7 4 39.4
Saturn.... 1 18 41 42.70.. .. -22 18 22.1 18 1.2
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal.
Vol. n.
NEW YORK, MAY, 1871
No. 11.
CONTENTS.
Essay on the Construction of a Simple and-
Mechaxicallt Perfect Watch, 241
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measurement
of Time, 246
Vibratory Motion of the Crust of the Earth, 248
Alloys of Gold, „ 249
Enamels, 252
Thermometer Irregularities, 254
Reminiscences of an Apprentice 256
A few Words on Pendulums 260
Hardening Steel, 262
Sizes of Pinions, 262
Answer, 263
Monograms, 264
Equation of Ttme Table 264
[filtered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. MiixfeR, in the
office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
IE S S .A. "ST
ON THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANI-
CALLY PERFECT WATCH.
BY MORRITZ GROSS3JCANN.
CHAPTER VII .
THE ESCAPEMENT.
75. It cannot be the object of this treatise
to describe and illustrate the various escape-
ments, or to discuss their relative merits.
We have merely to occupy ourselves with the
exterior parts of construction, which serve to
bring the escapement in its place, and to keep
it steady there.
76. To begin with the horizontal or cylin-
der escapement, I always thought the
" chariot," a movable fastening of both the
balance cocks, a rather superfluous complica-
tion. If the distance between the cylinder
and wheel has been correctly pitched, it is
only desirable to keep it intact, and the
movability of the chariot is a danger for the
good performance of the watch. On the
other hand, no one will pretend that the cor-
rect pitching of a cylinder escapement will
at first be a very difficult job, while the du-
plex escapement, requiring by its delicate
nature the most perfect accuracy, is, in the
majority of cases, planted without movable
chariot ; besides, the cylinder escapement
admits, more than all the other escapements,
of being manufactured and planted by the
system of perfect identity, and it would seem
advisable to take advantage of this circum-
stance. The suppression of the chariot
would render the movement more simple,
and easier of execution to a considerable
extent, because the lower balance cock could
then be omitted, by setting the balance hole
in the same way as that of the wheel, in the
bridge ; or, in absence of this, in the plate
itself. The necessity of the chariot is only a
prejudice originated by habit and blind rou-
tine. If a cylinder escapement, then, is cor-
rectly pitched, it will be so for ever, and no
inexperienced hand would be able to alter
it ; and as to those escapements which are
incorrectly pitched, they ought not to pass
examination without being corrected.
77. The disposition of the cylinder escape-
ment being not so extended as that of the
lever escapement, the space in the movement
is not so much occupied; therefore the train,
to begin with the centre wheel, can be made
one size larger than in a lever movement of
the same diameter, in order to secure the acL
vantages to be obtained thereby. (53.)
78. The cylinder escapement is at this
period nearly superseded in almost all coun-
tries, except France, by the lever escapement,
and with respect to this latter, there are a
few more observations to make.
The arrangement of this escapement admits
of a greater variety ; and, in the first place,
the question must be settled, whether it is to
be set in a straight line or at right angles.
This latter system recommends itself by an
economy of space, or, what is the same, by a
more convenient placement of the parts.
Thus it would allow the wheel, lever and pal-
lets to be made larger for the same size move-
212
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
merit. For the reasons alleged for the sizes
of wheels and pinions (53), this might appear
advantageous ; but in the case of the escape-
ment we have to consider it from another
point of view. We must consider in the first
place that in the intermittent action of a dead
beat, or detached escapement, the inertia of
the moving parts must be overcome at each
vibration, and that this impediment must be
reduced as much as possible. Besides, the
sliding friction of the wheel on the pallet
planes is of a very different nature from the
rolling friction of the wheel teeth ; and this
former kind of friction increases considerably
with the extension of the planes to be traversed.
For these reasons the wheel, pallet, and fork
ought not to exceed certain limits in size, and
they ought to be worked out as light as their
necessary strength will allow. The length of
the fork, too, must be restricted. I will not
repeat here what I have treated in full detail
in my " Treatise on the Lever Escapement,"
Chap. IX., p. 62. The action of the fork
and roller is also not of such a very delicate
nature as to make us wish to execute it on a
large scale in order to verify easier its per-
formance.
For the same reasons, it is not advisable
to make the wheel, or other parts of the
escapement, of gold, the specific gravity of
which is here an objection.
79. The arrangement of the escapement in
right angle offers thus, as we have seen, no
advantage by its economy of space, except in
complicated constructions, where the space
is restricted by other parts of the mechanism.
It may be considered but little more than a
matter of taste to employ the one or the
other arrangement, still there is a slight dif-
ference in favor of the escapement in right
angle.
The pressure which is acting on the pallet
pivots, may be considered a threefold one :
1st. The pressure of the wheel on the locking
faces. This is exerted with the full power of
the escape- wheel, and acts on both arms in
the direction of a line drawn through the
locking edge of the entrance-arm to that of
the other arm, and will tend to wear the
pivot holes in the direction of the second
arm. 2d. The pressure resulting from the
decomposition of the force of the wheel when
acting on the inclined planes of the pallet. It
is, of course, much weaker, but it acts during
a more extended angle of movement. It in-
creases with the lifting-angle, and has a
tendency to widen the holes in the direction
of a straight line from the centre of the wheel
towards the centre of the pallet. 3d. The re-
action of the resistance in unlocking. It acts
alternately to both sides of a line at right
angles with the line joining the centres of
balance and pallet. Eoth the effects under 1
and 2 take place equally, and in the same
direction, for any lever escapement; but the
third one coincides in direction with that
under 1, if the escapement is in straight line,
while, with the escapement in angle, it falls
into the direction of the one under 2, which
is essentially weaker.
It will easily be seen that this difference is
hardly of any practical importance ; at least
not sufficiently so to render it unadvisable to
construct escapements in straight line.
In all cases of this latter construction, the
pallet holes, as a rule, ought to be jewelled ;
because the bushing of a worn pallet hole in
a straight line escapement is more trouble-
some than in another one, as any deviation
of the exact pitch must necessarily here
produce a defect in both the actions of wheel
and pallet, and of fork and roller.
80. According to the foregoing demonstra-
tions, the diameter of escape-wheel in a lever
watch ought not to exceed one-fifth of the
diameter of the pillar-plate, and then it will
be a good proportion to have the acting
length of the lever — that is, the distance
from the pallet centre to the acting edges of
the fork — equal to the wheel's radius, or one-
tenth of the diameter of the pillar-plate.
With these proportions the pallet centre
will be within the circle of balance, if this
latter is not disproportionately small.
8 1 . There might be found a trifling economy
in having wheel and pallet under one and
the same cock, but then we would have either
to renounce the advantages of a short lever,
or to make the escape-pinion as short as
the pallet-staff which is to lie under the
balance. This ought to be avoided, because
the stability of the axis is greater when the
pivots are far apart (60). Therefore, the
little additional trouble or cost of making a
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
243
separate cock for the wheel ought not to be
an objection.
82. The action of the fourth wheel into the
escape-pinion ought not to be placed too
high ; for, if otherwise, the good service of
this depth, by its nature the most imperfect
and most delicate of the train, might be en-
dangered by the slightest alteration in the
steady pins of the escape-wheel cock.
For the same reason this cock ought to be
placed so that a straight line through the
pivot hole and the screw hole points towards
the centre of the fourth wheel, or nearly so,
because then any bending of a steady pin will
influence the depth in a less degree.
83. The balance-cock, in the course of
making or repairing a watcb, must be very
often removed and put on again ; therefore
it is of great importance to pay much atten-
tion to its steady pins, for, if badly made,
they give much trouble. A well adjusted
cock, especially that of the balance, ought to
be firm in its place ; it ought to go easy into
the steady pin holes till at a distance of some
tenths of a millimetre, and then be so firm
that the escapement may be safely tried with-
out using the screw. This result can only be
attained by steady pins of a conical form. I
would not recommend the English way of
screwing the steady pins in, because it is not
so easy, and does not offer the same surety of
exact fitting as a pin driven into a round
hole. The following is a way to do it which
I always found to answer perfectly well. I
take a piece of wire, a little thicker than the
hole, and file it to the ordinary taper of a
broach, till it will enter about half way into
the steady pin hole in the pillar-plate. Then
I take a burnishing file, and, holding the pin
with the pin-vice in a suitable groove of the
wood in the bench-vice, I apply the burnisher
to its end, so as to burnish a length, a little
more than the thickness of the plate, into a
more conical shape than that of a broach.
After this, if properly done, the pin will enter
fully into the hole in the pillar-plate. Then
I take a good broach and make the corre-
sponding hole in the cock wider till the pin,
thus prepared, goes in far enough to have its
extremity level with the lower surface of the
cock. This, however, is a matter of experi-
ence, because it depends on the relative hard-
ness of the cock and of the pin-wire. Then I
cut the wire off, leaving a sufficient length
projecting at the upper surface of the cock,
and then, after putting the lower side on a
piece of flat steel, with a hole in it only a
trifle larger than the pin, I drive the pin
tightly in, trying it from time to time into
the hole in the pillar-plate till it holds the
cock fast. The other pin is made in the same
way, and a cock, well fitted according to this
principle, goes on quite easy till the pivot is
in the hole, and then it gets more than suf-
ficient hold by the last pressure, which may
be exerted safely a"hd without injuring the
jewel hole. These conical steady pins offer
the additional advantage, that a small bend-
ing of them will not- affect the position of the
cock; because, in consequence of their taper
form, they catch their hold in the plate
merely by the part next to the cock, while the
parts of the pin exposed to bending are free
in the hole.
84. Two steady pins, well adjusted, are
quite sufficient, and much better than three
pins made in the common careless way, with
which a cock often goes on rather hard at the
beginning, and allows some shake when close
down to the plate.
The steady pins ought not to be too long,
for if they are they bend too easily. The
length must not exceed double their thick-
ness, and the pin-wire must be drawn as
hard as possible. To be effective, they must
stand as far apart as the foot of the cocks
will allow of.
85. The balance is a part, the dimensions
of which show very great variety in watches,
and without undertaking here any disserta-
tion on this subject, I will restrict myself to
stating that I believe it a good proportion to
multiply the diameter of the pillar-plate with
0.4, or to take four-tenths of it as the diameter
of the balance. With a movement of 18 size,
or 44 m., this would be 44 X 0-4 = 17.6 m.
88. If the movement is to have a compen-
sation balance, great care must be taken to
have ample space for the inside and outside
of the rim. I have noticed many cases of
inexperienced workmen being nearly driven
to despair by a watch apparently in the most
satisfactory state, and performing quite well,
but at the beginning of the cold season stop-
2U
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
ping regularly every night. When being ex-
amined, of course in a warm room, the watch
resumed its ordinary march without showing
the slightest disorder, till it was found out
that the expansion of the balance brought it
into contact with a cock, or other part too
near its circumference.
' CHAPTER V III.
THE CASING.
87. The method of casing presents a vari-
ety of features, and necessarily varies accord-
ing to the style of case ; therefore, in order
to settle this point, we must first decide on
the best plan of case.
There is, first, the old English style of case,
with a fixed dome ; the hands to be set, and
movement to be opened, from the dial side.
In this kind of case, the movement is fixed at
Fig. 22.
cess in the rim of the case, thereby prevent-
ing, any circular displacement of the move-
ment, and the outer end of it, filed suffi-
ciently down from its upper side, takes hold
under the rim as well as the two side pins.
This mode of fixing the movement generally
with only one screw, is rather troublesome in
putting in and taking out the movement,
especially with the very thin cases of so many
Swiss watches.
89. Therefore, I propose another plan,
which, if the pillar plate and its shoulder be
properly fitted into the rim of the case, will
answer completely, though of very simple
and easy execution. A hole must be drilled
through the upright part of the rim sur-
rounding the pillar plate, into this plate. A
pin driven into the hole in the plate, and
shortened so as to enter into the rim without
exceeding its outer side, serves at one and
the 12 with a joint and held in its place by a
catch at the 6, which, for opening, can be
pushed in with the nail of the thumb. This
method makes, undoubtedly, a good strong
case, but it has many inconveniences for the
wearer of the watch. For winding, the case
must be opened behind; and for setting the
hands it requires to be opened on the dial side.
A very bad feature of this arrangement is the
opening of the movement by means of the
catch ; a slipping off from it of the nail of
the thumb has caused the ruin of many a
good seconds or minute hand. A case of this
kind may be employed for a full-plate move-
ment, in which, by its nature, the hands
must be set on the dial side, but any f plate
or bridge frame ought to have the setting
square behind. (70.)
88. For this latter kind of watches the
modern form of case will be
the most convenient. The
movement is fixed to the case
by one steady pin and one, or
two screws — the latter being
best. The Swiss watches
generally have three pins
driven into the edge of the
pillar plate at some distance
from each other. The middle
one of those is the strongest
and of a square shape, and
partly enters into a small re-
the same time to hold the movement down in
its place, and to prevent any side displace-
ment. Two common key-screws, each 120°,
Fig. 23.
or ^ of the circumference apart from the pin
and from the other screw, and taking their
hold on two studs, soldered to the inside of
the rim, complete the fastening.
90. The pin ought to be always placed near
thebalance,so that this most precious and del-
icate part of the movement comes first into
its position in the case, and is not exposed to
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
245
any violence when forcing the movement
down on its seat. It is very essential to ad-
just a movement carefully into the case, so
that it enters quite smoothly, and without any
pressure; because, in this latter case, espe-
cially if the case is strong, and the plate thin
and not hard, it might easily suffer a deflec-
tion in a sufficient degree to alter the end
shake of the pinions.
91. I would not recommend to have the
key screws for the casing in the upper plate
and taking their hold outside on the rim of
the case, because the plate is too thin to offer
sufficient stock to the screw, and because this
thin plate, if the screws are strongly
turned in, is liable to bend. The pillars
must then be considered as a fulcrum, and in
the ratio as the screws bend to lift the outer
edge of the plate, the inner parts will bend
down, and thus diminish the end shake of
the pinions.
92. The movement, in the modern case, is
accessible from behind by opening the dome,
and as the hands are set from this side, the
wearer of the watch has no occasion whatever
to open the dial side of the case. In this
kind of case the dial ought to be fixed with
key-screws, and not with pins, else it would
not be possible to take it off without previ-
ously taking the movement out of the case.
93. I often see Swiss watches, of recent
make, having the heads of the casing key-
screws below the dial. This arrangement has
no comprehensible advantage, but subjects
the repairer to the vexation of being obliged
to take hands and dial off before he can re-
move the movement from its case.
94. The setting square ought to be pro-
vided with a cap, as well as the winding
square, in ordei» to prevent any particles ad-
hering to the key, from entering into the
movement. Care must be taken to have these
caps reach up to the inner side of the dome,
and without any excess, because this would,
especially in a strong case, produce a pres-
sure on the plate when the case is shut, and
which would often be sufficient to stop the
watch by reduction of the necessary end
shake of the pivots.
95. The cases in which the movement can
be opened with a joint offer a greater con-
venience for the exact timing of the watch,
because the timing screws of the balance are
more accessible; but this convenience is of no
great consequence.
96. It remains to say a word about the con-
trivances having for their object the protec-
tion of the movement, or of certain parts of
it, from the dust penetrating through the
case. The most perfect dust cap is that of
the old English full-plate watch, because it
covers the whole movement, without the
slightest exception. In the majority of cases
it is admirably made, and effects its purpose
very well. It has been tried with similar suc-
cess to protect the movement of f- plate
watches, though the dust cap, by the addi-
tional height of case it requires, does not
harmonize with the modern watch. It was.
an absolute necessity to employ it with the
old cases opening and shutting with springs,
and consequently far from being dust-proof.
But with the gradual progress of case-making,
the cases shut tighter now than they used to
do, and therefore the dust caps can be entire-
ly dispensed with. The fittings of the cases,
if they are made with a little care, shut very
closely, and nevertheless open and shut with
ease. For this purpose the rims must not be
too much undercut. The better class of Eng-
lish cases are generally fitted with much care
and judgment. The rim ought to be slightly
rounded for the smooth passage of the shut-
ting edge of the rim over its highest point.
(See Fig. 23.)
97. The dust covers in ring shape, surround-
ing the frame of full-plate movements, avoid
the disadvantage of occupying more height
in the case, but they are also so much less
efficient. What is the use of protecting the
train from dust, if at the same time the
balaLee, the pendulum spring, and the counter
sinks in the upper plate with the oil in them,
are exposed ?
Ebiutta. — If, in deference to popular opin-
ion, we concede it to be a fact, that " figures
wont lie," we can show that they sometimes
fail to tell the whole truth ; as for instance,
in the article on watch brass, in the last num"
ber. They should have given the weight of
the frame and rolls as 24,000 instead of 2,400;
also the weight of the drop as 3,000 or 4,000,
instead of as many hundreds.
246
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
THE PENDULUM
AS APPLIED TO THE
MEASUREMENT OF TIME.
NUMBER THREE.
RECOILING ESCAPEMENTS THE EXTENT OF THEIR
USE ERROR IN THE YANKEE CLOCK FORM
NATURE OF THE IMPUL3E AND RESISTANCE
GIVEN TO THE PENDULUM LARGE VIBRATIONS.
We have now to consider the influence
which the various forms of escapements exert
on the motion and regularity of the vibrations
of the pendulum, and for the benefit of those
who may not be conversant with all the
branches of the subject, we propose to give
a detailed description of the anchor or recoil-
ing escapement, the dead beat or Graham
one, and other escapements of that class, and
also the various forms of gravity and detached
escapements of ancient and modern con-
struction, and of European and American in-
vention, and the influence they have upon
the pendulum.
The Vertical, or verge and crown wheel
escapement, used in the early days of clock-
making, may now be considered to be obso-
lete; and although there are many important
questions involved in its construction, it is
unnecessary to occupy the space of the Jour-
nal to give a description of it at present, as
the necessity for its use has been avoided by
other escapements that have entirely super-
seded it, and which are more easily made,
and better adapted for every purpose ap-
proaching to accuracy in performance, which
is the point we aim at.
Recoiling or Anchor. — In the year 1680, or
1GS1, Mr. William Clement, a London clock-
maker, produced a clock with the escapement
known at the present day as the anchor or
recoiling one. This escapement allows the
scape-wheel teeth to escape with a much
shorter arc of vibration of the pendulum than
the old verge one allowed, and the arc of
vibration being smaller, a longer and heavier
pendulum can be used with a smaller driving
weight. The arc of vibration being ma-
terially reduced, the necessity for any attempt
to make the pendulum describe a cycloid is
obviated, although we find that Berthoud, of
France, and others of less eminence, devised
plans to obtain this object, by making the
faces of the pallets a particular shape, and
this idea lingers among a portion of the trade
at the present day.
As it is with all important discoveries or
improvements, so it was with the recoiling
escapement. Several claim the honor of the
invention. Mr. Clement had no sooner given
a description of his escapement to the world
than Dr. Robert Hooke, a celebrated mathe-
matician of that period, whose father was a
watchmaker in the Isle of Wight, claimed
that in the year 1666, fourteen or fifteen
years previous, he showed to the Royal
Society a clock having this kind of escape-
ment, and it is generally admitted that Dr.
Hooke's claim to priority of invention is just,
although the fact in no way detracts from the
credit due to Mr. Clement for his labors.
The recoiling escapement has, in its turn,
been superseded by others where great ac-
curacy is desired; still it is one by far the
most extensively used in all countries in
clocks intended for the ordinary purposes of
life. It is the prevailing escapement in those
clocks having seconds pendulums and tall
cases that are to be found all over the British
Isles, and in countries and states of British
origin. The owners of almost every one of
these clocks tenaciously adhere to the no-
tion that their clock is the best in the whole
town or parish, although in some instances
the mechanical execution of these same
clocks may be of the most wretched descrip-
tion; and this circumstance proves in a forci-
ble manner the superiority of clocks having
long pendulums over those having shorter
ones, although they are made with a greater
amount of care. The recoiling escapement is
also used in different forms in Scandinavian
countries, as well as in Holland, and all over
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
247
Germany and the South of Europe, and to a
large extent in those charmingly executed
French mantle-piece clocks of modern con-
struction. It is the escapement universally
adopted in our own irrepressible Yankee
clocks, which have won their way to popular
favor all over the American continent and al- .
most every part of the civilized world.
There is one
point in the con-
struction of the es-
capements of Yan-
kee clocks, which
we would like to
see rectified. The
point of suspen-
sion and centre of
motion of the pen-
dulum is much
lower than the
centre of motion of the pallets. The effect
of this arrangement is apparent to all by
the bad action and increased friction given
to the wire that connects the pallets with
the pendulum. This part of the arrange-
ment of Yankee clocks is all wrong in
principle. There is no necessity for its ex-
istence, and we would be pleased to see some
of our manufacturers, in carrying out the
growing tendency to improve on these
clocks, adopt some plan of construction
whereby the pendulum spring would naturally
bend at a point near to the centre of the stud
which carries the pallets, and thereby bring
the centre of motion of the pendulum and
pallets to the same point, because in a mathe-
matical sense the pendulum and pallets are
considered as one.
All these recoiling escapements, although
differing in form, are in principle the same.
The faces of the pallets are shaped in such a
manner, that when the pendulum is made to
ascend beyond the perpendicular line, the
pallets impart to the scape- wheel a retrograde
motion, or, as it is termed, a recoil. So soon
as the pendulum has reached the extremity
of its arc, and begins its return course, this
force that has been stored up by the recoil of
.the wheel work, acts with the force of a
spring that has been compressed, and causes
the scape-wheel teeth to press on the pallets,
and thereby communicate a force to the pen-
dulum. This force maintains the vibrations
of the pendulum that would otherwise fall off
gradually, owing to the friction of the pallets
on the scape-wheel, and the resistance offered
to the pendulum by the density of the atmos-
phere, and from the stiffness of the suspension
spring. This recoil maintains the vibrations
of a pendulum with the old vertical escape-
ment exactly in the same manner as in an
anchor one, and so far as the quality of the
impulse given to the pendulum on its descent,
or the nature of the resistance that the pen-
dulum meets with on its ascent, there is but
little difference; and the superiority of Hooke's
escapement over the vertical one consists
principally in the easiness of its execution,
the better action of the wheel work, and the
shorter oscillations that are required to be
made by the pendulum.
Still there are, however, some eminent
clock-makers, who in past times and at the
present day entertain an idea that these short
arcs of vibration are not to be recommended.
Mr. Cumming, an English clock-maker of the
last century, and the author of an Essay on
the Elements of Clock and Watch-making,
which he dedicated to King George the Third,
takes extreme grounds on this point, and ad-
vocates vibrations of great extent, without
giving any good reason whatever for his
opinion. The scientific man finds no proof
among nature's laws that will confirm the
utility of large arcs of vibration in a pendu-
lum designed for an accurate measure of
time. The supposed necessity for large
vibrations, and also the supposed necessity
for a pendulum to describe a cycloid, in our
estimation, consists in the fallacy of applyin'g
rules that were applicable and also necessary
for the original vertical escapement, to all
other escapements, as if these rules were
dogmas to be followed on all occasions, and
under every circumstance.
Here we would remark, for the benefit of
those workmen who, in making and repairing
clocks, imagine that large vibrations are
beneficial. If an escapement has been ori-
ginally designed and drawn off in such a
manner that the pendulum will have to make
a large vibration before the wheel will escape,
and after the clock is made, or has been re-
paired, the pendulum does not take the de-
248
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGiCAL JOUKNAL.
sired vibration, it indicates that something is
wrong ; probably too much drop to the teeth
of the scape-wheel ; and in these instances,
which often occur, the clock will not go well,
and will be easily stopped. Still it will be
apparent that this circumstance cannot be
taken as an argument against small vibra-
tions when the escapement is designed and
executed with the object of small vibrations
in view.
It was our first intention, at the com-
mencement of these articles, simply to illus-
trate the tendency which the different forms
of escapements had of interfering with the
compensation of a pendulum, and of destroy-
ing its isochronal properties ; however, it has
been deemed advisable to digress a little from
the original plan, and to give a short sketch
of some of the methods used for drawing off,
and directions for constructing these escape-
ments.
Although the effects of the action of there-
coiling and dead beat escapements on the
going of the clock are of an opposite nature,
when any disturbing cause affects them, the
recoiling escapement differs but little from
the dead beat one in the elementary prin-
ciples of its construction. The distance of the
centre of motion of the pallets from the centre
of the wheel are the same in both instances,
in proportion to the number of teeth of the
wheel that are embraced, but the nature and
peculiarities of the recoil will be better under-
stood after describing and illustrating the
dead beat, which we will proceed to do in the
following number.
VIBRATORY MOTION OF THE CRUST OF THE
EARTH.
Mr. William J. Steiger, of Maryland, gives
the results of some experiments made by him
in regard to the change of direction of grav-
ity, from which he concludes that there is a
general vibratory movement or elongation of
the whole crust of the earth. This move-
ment is necessarily slow, and depends upon
the aggregate action of the earth. That in
addition to this movement there is another,
due to the direct action of the sun and moon;
the power of the former being derived from
its immense size, and the latter from its
proximity to our globe. Also that these reg-
ular elongations are accompanied by irregu-
lar disturbances, attributable to local causes,
chiefly changes of atmospheric pressure, and
gradual accretions and sudden diminutions of
the matter of the crust.
Careful observations upon bullets suspend-
ed by silk fibre, to poles firmly fixed in the
ground, shaded from the wind, and swi ging
freely, as well as upon accurately adjusted
dipping needles, first suggested to this ob-
server's mind that the earth is a plastic body,
yielding to external forces, and changing its
contour constantly in obedience to their at-
tractions. That independently of the tides of
the ocean, there are also two or more tides of
the whole crust in each twenty-four hours,
which tides are in themselves insensible earth-
quakes and rise to a height, and occur at
times, depending upon the relative position
of the sun, moon, and planets. If these
points can be demonstrated by further obser-
vations, the following important consequences
of his hypothesis are thrown out by the au-
thor :
1. It confirms the nebular theory and the
liquefied condition of oar planet.
2. It will throw light upon the causes of
earthquakes or violent undulations of the
crust; these, in accordance Avith the true path-
ological theory, being only prolongations of
the mild disturbances which normally take
place.
3. It will account for the so called "neap"
tides.
4. It will go far to explain the cause of
storms and irregular winds, and why storms
move in curved lines, as recently ascertained.
5. The extraordinary risings and fallings
of the barometer are in part due to this
cause ; and
6. It may go far to account for the con-
flicts and disagreements in those delicate as-
tronomical observations ascribed to defective
mechanical construction of the instruments,
or clumsy manipulation of them.
We have for a number of years suspected
that there was a vibratory movement in the
earth's crust. From practical observation we
can testify to the possibility of bullets sus-
pended by a silk fibre to poles fixed firmly in
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
249
the ground, swinging irregularly. We have
seen pendulums suspended from supports of
various kinds, some of them on pyramids of
solid masonry, that when left in a state of
rest and detached from any clock-work, would
begin to move in very small arcs, without any
visible cause. If there be a vibratory move-
ment of the earth's crust, it will go a long
way to explain the cause of the small irregu-
larities in the highest class of clock-work, and
we will watch the discussion of the matter
with much interest, and report the result to
our numerous readers that are interested in
the subject.
ALLOYS OF GOLD.
Gold, the basis of all artistic adornment
used by our craft ; the elegant drapery in
which the public demand our minute horo-
logical machines shall be clothed; its beautiful
rich color, so capable of fine artistic effects ;
its density and compact grain, susceptible of
the most exquisite polish ; its wonderful
malleability and ductility, eminently qualify-
ing it for the skilful manipulations of the
engraver, enameller, and chaser ; its almost
total exemption from corrosion, defying the
strongest simple acids, — give it a just claim to
the title "regal; " and right majestically does
it tower above its fellow-metals in gravity,
ductility, malleability, and permanency.
Want of space, as well as a rigid adherence
to alloys used in the trade, forbid our going
into the intensely interesting details of its
history; the operations of mining and refin-
ing; the sources and annual amount of
production from every quarter of the globe —
iron being the only metal exceeding it in
general distribution.
Alloys of gold form the basis of nearly all
metallic ornamentation, leaf gold and gold
foil being the only forms in which the pure
metal is used ; all alloys debase it ; on the
contrary, it confers upon the baser metals
intrinsic value, as well as useful properties.
Coin, the basis of all mercantile transactions,
and the unit of measure for all values, is an
alloy, the composition of which is determined
by governmental enactment, based upon their
several necessities.
The quality of gold alloys is measured by
the term karat, or carat; frequently the simple
abbreviation K is used. It is said to be de-
rived from the name of a bean, the produce
of a species erythina, a native of the district
of Shangallas, in Africa, a famous mart of
gold dust. The tree is called kuara, a word
in the language of the country signifying sun,
because it bears flowers and fruit of a flame
color. As the dry seeds of this pod are al-
ways of nearly uniform weight, the natives
have used them from time immemorial to
weigh gold. The beans were transported
into India at an ancient period, and have
long been employed there for weighing dia-
monds. The carat of the civilized world con-
sists of 4 nominal grains a little lighter than
4 grains troy — it requiring 74-^ carat grains
to equipoise 72 troy grains. In estimating
or expressing the fineness of gold, the whole
mass spoken of is supposed to be divided into
24 equal parts, and the number of those parts
that are fine gold determines the quality. If
16 of the 24 parts are fine gold, and 8 are of
baser metal, the quality is 16 k. If 22 parts
of a mass are fine gold and 2 parts base, the
mass is 22 k. fine. Fine ?gold, that is chemi-
cally pure gold, is divided into the same 24
parts, and as each part is pure gold, the mass
is 24 k. fine. Half fine gold and half base
metal is 12k. fine. The money value of the
base metal added to reduce the quality of the
gold, does not at all enter into the determina-
tion of the quality of the alloyed mass.
Whether we add silver, or brass, or copper,
or a mixture of all of these, the number of
parts of pure gold is the quality of the mass.
Intrinsically the value of 12 k. gold, alloyed
with silver only, is greater than 12 k. gold al-
loyed with copper, by the difference in price
between silver and copper, but both alloys are
12 k. fine.
A new and more intelligible nomenclature
has been recently adopted by the Govern-
mental assayers. Gold or silver which is
chemically pure, is called lOOOths fine; it
being understood as consisting of 1,000 parts
of pure metal. If 500 parts be gold, and 500
parts some other metal, the alloy thus formed
is said to be ■$$& fine, which is equivalent to
12 k. of the old nomenclature. To reduce ■
the quality of gold, as expressed in carats, to
250
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
lOOOths, it is only necessary to know that
there is 41§ thousandths of fine gold in one
carat ; and the number of carats multiplied
by 41§ gives at once the thousandths fine ;
conversely, to convert carats into thousandths,
it is only necessary to divide the 1 OOOths by 41§ .
The present standard in the United States
for gold coin is T9o°A &ne- The 100 parts
alloy is copper and silver, and at least 50 of
the 100 parts must be silver. Before July,
1834, the gold coin was f££| fine, the " Eagle"
weighing 270 grains. From that date to
January, 1837, U. S. coin was ffgg fine, the
" Eagle " weighing 258 grains. Since then it
has remained at fipfo fine, the " Eagle" weigh-
ing 258 grains. The following table shows
the quality of such foreign coins as are usually
met with :
Australia Sovereign, 1855-60 916 Fine.
Austria -f?ucat. . 989 "
(Souverain 900 "
Brazil, 20 Milreas 917.5 "
Central America, 2 Escudos 853.5 "
Chili, old Doubloon 870 "
England, Av. Sovereign 916 "
France, Av. 20 Francs 899 "
North Germany, 10 Thaler 895 "
South " Ducat 986 "
Italy, 20 Lire 898 "
Mexico, new Doubloon 870.5 "
Netherlands, 10 Guilders 899 "
Peru, Doubloon 868 "
Prussia, 10 Thaler 903 "
" New Union Crown 900 "
Russia, 5 Roubles 916 "
Spain, 100 Reals 896 "
Sweden, Ducat 975 "
Turkey, 10 Piasters 915 "
It is a matter of considerable importance
to the jeweller to know the quality of the va-
rious gold alloys in which he deals. Assay-
ing is the only process for obtaining such
knowledge, and to arrive at truthful and eco-
nomical results requires the best chemical
knowledge, and the most careful manipula-
tions. Two ways are practised by assayers,
one called " parting," by dissolving the alloy
by acids and recovering the separate metals
by precipitation, the other by cupellation.
This is founded upon the feeble affinity which
gold and silver have for oxygen, in compari-
son with copper, tin, and the other cheap
metals, and on the tendency which the latter
metals have to oxidize rapidly when in con-
tact with lead at a high temperature, and
sink with it into any porous earthy vessel, in
a thin vitriform state. The porous vessel is
made of wood ashes, free from soluble matter,
or from burned bones reduced to fine powder.
It has been found by experiment that 16
parts of lead are sufficient to pass one part of
copper down into the cupel, and ^ of lead
will pass one of silver. The cupels allow the
fused oxides to flow through them as through
a fine sieve, but are impermeable to the par-
ticles of metals ; and thus the former pass
readily down into their substance, while the
latter remain upon their surface; hence the
liquid metal preserves a hemispherical shape
in the cupel, as quicksilver does in a glass
cup, while the fused oxide penetrates their
substance like water. Long practice and
delicate trials can alone guide to the proper
quantity of lead to be employed for every va-
rious state of the alloy. The most expert
and experienced assayer by the cupel, produ-
ces a series of approximate conjectural results
which fall short of chemical demonstration and
certainty in every instance. This mode of as-
saying depends so much on the variable tem-
perature, the unknown proportion of copper,
and the mere judgment of the senses, that it
has been mostly superseded by the humid pro-
cess, which has all the precision that can be
desired.
Assa}Ting is not refining of gold ; it is
simply taking a very small fragment of a
homogeneous ,mass of alloy, and operating
upon it to determine its intrinsic value — that
is, the quantity and value of whatever metals
may be contained in it. Refining, on the
contrary, is operating upon the whole quan-
tity, and separating and recovering the whole
of the metals in a pure state. It might be
interesting to some to detail these processes,
but would be of no practical value, as no one,
without proper facilities, and the greatest ex-
perience, could operate successfully. The
custom now is to send to the United States
Mint, or any branch office, or to some reliable
assayer. For a small fee, an assay, truthful
in results, can be had ; or, if gold is to be
refined, send at once to a professional refiner,
and the pure metals are returned to you at
an expense far less than it is possible to do
it youiself, even were you capable.
As very many of the readers of the Journal
are obliged, by the necessities of their loca-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
251
tion, to do a little of everything, combining
the occupation of jeweller with that of watch-
maker, a few rules, with illustrations, will be
given, which will enable them to produce any
quality of alloy desired, from such material
as they have at hand, without being obliged
to resort to either assayers or refiners. Gold
coin — whose quality is known — and a set of
" test needles," are the basis of all the
operations of compounding. Test needles
can be had of any assayer, and are usually for
sale by material dealers. They consist simply
of eight or ten little slips of metal, on the end
of each of which is soldered a piece of gold
of known quality, from 6 k., 8 k., 10 k., up
to 22 k. Such a set of test needles are ex-
ceedingly useful in a shop where there is
constant inquiry as to the quality of gold
articles ; and, in the present advanced state
of alloying, it is not safe to pronounce an
opinion as to the quality of gold, by simple
inspection — color being, in such cases, the
principal guide to jiidgment. With these,
and a piece of black basalt, or a piece of
black slate-stone, which is a very good substi-
tute, and a bottle of good nitric acid, very
correct judgment can be formed of the
quality of a gold alloy.
Rub the article to be tested upon the stone
till you have a bright metallic spot or stripe;
by the side of it rub off some of the test
needle which you supposed to be the same
quality, then apply to both spots at the same
moment a drop of the acid. The inferior
quality will first change color under the ac-
tion of the acid, or if the quality be very low,
both metallic streaks will disappear almost as
soon as the acid is applied. In that case,
the spot first to disappear is the poorest qual-
ity. Try your needles higher and lower, till
one is found whose action under the acid is
the same as the alloy under inspection ; 18
carat and upward will require " aqua regia "
as the test acid, because nitric acid does not
act upon gold of that quality, and would give
no indications by change of color. With a
very little practice, very correct results can
be arrived at by these tests, and the error in
all ordinary transactions will be trifling. This
method has the additional advantage that the
test can be made in the presence of the cus-
tomer, who can see for himself that it is truth-
ful, and that he is not the victim of deception,
and there is no class of tradesmen who are so
dependent for success upon their reputation
for honest dealing, as jewellers. The oppor-
tunities for cheating are so great that the
public are quite too willing to suspect, and
even accuse the trade of "ways that are dark
and tricks that are vain."
In connection with inquiries as to quality
of gold, there is always the additional ques-
tion, " What's it worth ?" Pure gold, at the
United States Mint, is valued per oz. troy, at
20,67.183468; and to find the value of gold
per oz. of any degree of fineness expressed
in lOOOths, multiply the above amount by the
number of l,000ths. Example, 1 oz. gold
T\%\ fine, is worth 20,67.183468 X 9°° =
18,60.4651212. Pure silver lOOOths fine, is
valued at the United States Mint per oz. troy,
at 1,34.444 -4- or 1,34$; and the value for any
other fineness is found by the same rule as
for gold.
The subject of alloying gold in the proper
proportions, to obtain some desired result,
either of quality or value, has probably
puzzled practical jewellers more than any
other one thing ; and the dozens of different
qualities of goods, all warranted the same fine-
ness, places the compounders of those alloys
among that class of tradesmen who wish to
" deceive," or who " don't know." It is no
uncommon thing to see a practical meiter go
nearly distracted over the query of how much
of this, that, or the other thing, is required to
produce this, that, or the other quality. His
dilemma results from want of a little mathe-
matical knowledge, and which he might ac-
quire in the time he is scratching his puzzled
head for solutions of his problems. This
may be one reason why jewelry, guaranteed
by houses that are called "first class," shows
such a diversity of quality as to lead inevi-
tably to the presumption that they are really
ignorant (assuming their honesty) of the real
fineness and value of their wares. Such dis-
crepancies in the statement of qualities is
probably the basis of the wide-spread and al-
most universal suspicion with which all such
statements are received; and a customer's
countenance often says, "perhaps that's so,"
when his politeness refuses to put the sus-
picion into words.
252
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
EXAMELS.
The basis of all descriptions of enamel is a
perfectly transparent and fusible glass, which
is rendered either semi-transparent or opaque,
by admixture with metallic oxides. White
enamels are made by melting the oxide of
tin with glass, and adding a small quantity
of magnesia, in order to increase the bril-
liancy of the color; the addition of oxide of
lead or antimony produces a yellow. Reds
are made by mixtures of the oxides of gold
and iron; that composed of the former being
the most beautiful and permanent. Greens,
violets, and blues are formed from the oxides
of copper, cobalt, and iron ; and these, when
used in different proportions, afford a great
variety of intermediate colors. Sometimes
the oxides are mixed before they are united
to the vitreous base. Purple, which is the color
most in use for enamelling, is the chloride
oxide of gold, and may be prepared in dif-
ferent ways; by precipitation by means of a
muriatic protochloride solution of tin, and
nitro-muriatic solution of gold, diluted witb
water. A very small quantity of the solution
of tin will be sufficient to form this precipi-
tate, and must be added gradually until the
purple color begins to appear, when no more
is needed. After having suffered the color
to deposit itself, it is put in an earthen vessel,
and left to dry slowly. The different solu-
tions of gold, in whatever manner precipi-
tated, provided the gold is precipitated in
the state of an oxide, always give a purple
color, which will be more beautiful in pro-
portion to the purity of the oxide; neither
the copper nor silver with which gold is
generally found alloyed injures this color in a
sensible degree, but it is changed by iron. The
gold precipitate, which gives the most beauti-
ful purple, is fulminating gold, which loses
that property when mixed with fluxes.
Purple is a strong color, and is capable of
bearing a great deal of flux, as a small quan-
tity communicates its color to a great deal of
matter, but will not bear a strong heat; and
the color is always more beautiful if the pre-
cipitate is ground with the flux before it be-
comes perfectly dry.
The principal quality of good enamel, and
that which renders it fit for being applied, is
the facility with which it acquires lustre by a
moderate or cherry-red heat— more or less
according to the nature of the enamel — with-
out entering into complete fusion. Enamels
applied to metals must possess this quality.
They do not enter into complete fusion,
taking only the state of paste, but of a paste so
exceedingly firm that, when baked, one might
say that they had been completely fused.
There are two ways of painting on enamel —
on raw and on baked enamel. Both these
methods are employed for the same object.
Solid colors, capable of sustaining the fire
necessary for baking enamel ground, may be
applied in the form of fused enamel on that
which is raw, and the artist may afterward
finish with the tender colors. The colors ap-
plied on the raw material do not require any
flux; there is one," even, to which silex may
be added; that is, the calx of copper, which
gives a very beautiful green, but when used
on the raw material it must be mixed with
nearly two parts of its weight of silex, and
the mixture brought into combination by
means of heat, and afterwards pulverized be-
fore using. For good white enamel, it is of
great importance that the lead and tin should
be very pure. If these metals contain, as is
often the case, copper or antimony, the en-
amel will not be fine. Iron injures it least of
any of the metals. All these colors may be
produced by the metallic oxides, and are
more or less fused in the fire, as they adhere
more or less to their oxygen. All metals
which • readily lose their oxygen cannot en-
dure a great degree of heat, and are unfit for
being employed on the raw materials.
The enameller, though provided with a set
of good colors, is far from being ready to
work unless he be skilled in the methods of
applying them, and in the nature of the
grounds on which to use them. Many of the
metals are too fusible to be enamelled, and
most of them are corroded by the action of
the fused glass. For this reason the metals,
gold, silver, and copper, only are used. Al-
though platinum has been used in some
instances, little can be said in its favor.
Twenty-four carat gold produces the best
effect with enamel, as it preserves its metallic
brilliancy without being oxidized in the fire,
and being less fusible, admits of a harder,
AMEEICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
253
and, consequently, more beautiful enamel;
but gold finer than 22 carats is seldom used.
Gold less than 18 carats would render the
work very defective, as more alkali would
have to be added to make the enamel softer,
and, therefore, less brilliant. We will de-
scribe fixing a transparent blue enamel on 22
carat gold. The enamel, after being broken
into small bits in a steel mortar, is pulverized
in one of agate, water being added to pre-
vent the small splinters from flying about.
Experience can only tell how fine the powder
ought to be, as some may be used coarser
than others. When fine enough, it is washed
by agitation in water, pouring it off as it be-
comes turbid, which is continued till the
water remains as clear as when poured on.
It is then put in a china saucer, covered
slightly with water, and taken up with an
iron spatula, and spread as equally as pos-
sible on the surface of the gold, which may
be ornamented in any wa}r calculated to pro-
duce a good effect through the enamel. The
thickness of this first layer depends entirely
upon its color ; delicate colors, in general,
require that it should have no great thick-
ness. The moist enamel, after being placed
on the gold, is very carefully dried with old
linen, to avoid injury by wiping, and is then
ready for the fire. If both sides are en-
amelled, place it on a plate of iron, hollowed
out so that the uncovered edges of the work
only are in contact with it. If only one side
be enamelled, lay it on a tile or plate of iron;
but if it be very small, or cannot be en-
amelled on the other side, the plate
should be flat, or the work may bend when
heated. If the piece is large, it should be
counter-enamelled, if possible. The furnace
should be square, and made of bricks, bedded
in earth. The lower part receives a muffle,
and rests on the floor of the furnace, and is
open on both sides. The upper part of the
furnace is a fire-place (larger and longer than
the muffle) which holds the charcoal, sur-
rounding the muffle, except the bottom. The
coal is supplied at a door above the muffle,
which is closed when the fire is lighted. A
chimney from the top of the furnace, with a
medium-sized aperture, may be closed, if
desirable, by a cast-iron plate. This furnace
ia different from the assayers', because the
air is supplied through the muffle, in order to
prevent too great heat beneath. After the
fire is lighted, and the muffle sufficiently
heated, the coal is so placed around the
lower pai-t that it cannot fall on the work,
which is then carefully put in the muffle on
the iron plate or tile. As soon as the artist
sees an appearance of fusion, he turns it care-
fully, so that the fusion shall be uniform.
When this is complete, he instantly takes it
away, or the gold will melt and spoil all.
When cold a second coating is applied, if
necessary, and the same care must be repeat-
ed for every coat the work requires.
When coated sufficiently, an even surface
must be given to the enamel, which is yet ir-
regular. This is done with a very fine file
and water, and afterwards sand is used.
Much care and skill are required in this, as the
enamel easily splinters from the metal, and
the color would not be uniform if thinner in
places. The marks of filing are then removed
with a piece of hard wood, fine sand and
water, and is then polished. The material
used by enamellers as a polish is rotten stone,
prepared for use by pounding, various wash-
ings, and then allowing the fine particles to
settle, after which it is levigated on a glass
slab. The work is cemented to a piece of
wood with resin and brick-dust, fixed in a
vice, and rubbed with rotten-stone on a
small straight bar of pewter. Supreme deli-
cacy is here necessary to avoid scratching or
producing flaws in the enamel, by pressing it
too hard. Thus it is rendered perfectly
even; but the last brilliant polish is given
with a piece of hard wood and the rotten-
stone. This is the usual way of applying en-
amels, but some colors require more caution
in the management of the fire. Opaque
colors require less care than the transparent.
A variety of circumstances must be noticed in
the management of transparent colors, every
color requiring gold of a particular fineness.
Different colors, placed one beside another,
are kept separate by a small edge or promi-
nency, which is left in the gold for that pur-
pose, and is polished with the enamel. Sil-
ver is enamelled in nearly the same way as
gold, but the changes of the colors on the
silver, by the action of fire, are much greater
than when gold is used. Copper is rarely
254
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
used, on account of the difficulty of fixing fine
colors on it. When this metal is used, it is
usual to first apply a coating of opaque white
enamel, and upon this, other colors more
fusible than the white. For leaving part of
the gold bare, its surface is cut into com-
partments, by the engraver. This is expen-
sive, and may be imitated by putting thin and
small pieces of gold on the surface of the en-
amel, where they are fixed by the fire, and
afterwards covered by a transparent vitreous
coating.
THERMOMETER IRREGULARITIES.
The principle upon which all thermometers
are constructed is the change of volume which
takes place in bodies when their temperature
undergoes an alteration. Generally speak-
ing, all bodies expand when heated, and con-
tract when cooled; and in such a manner that,
under the same circumstances of tempera-
ture, they return to the same dimensions, or
nearly so, so that the change of volume be-
comes the exponent of the temperature which
produces it. But as it is necessary, not
merely that expansion and contraction take
place, but that they be capable of being con-
veniently observed and measured, only a
small number of bodies are adapted for ther-
mometrical purposes. Solid bodies, for ex-
ample, undergo so small a change of volume,
with moderate variations of temperature, that
they are in general only used for measuring
very high temperatures, as the heat of fur-
naces, melting metals, etc., and instruments
for such purposes are called pyrometers.
The gaseous fluids, on the other hand, are
extremely susceptible of the impressions of
heat and cold; and as their changes of- volume
are greater, even with moderate accessions of
heat, they are only adapted for indicating
very minute variations, or for forming dif-
ferential thermometers. Liquids hold an in-
termediate place, and by reason of their
moderate but sensible expansion through the
ranges of temperature within which observa-
tions have to be made for the greater number
of purposes, they are commonly used for the
construction of thermometers. Various
liquids have been proposed, as oils, ether,
spirits of wine, and mercury, but rarely any
other than the two last are used at the pres-
ent day, and mercury the most generally.
The properties which render mercury pref-
erable to all other liquids may be summed up
as follows: It takes the temperature of the
medium in which it is placed, more quickly
than any other fluid. It has been deter-
mined by direct experiment that, while com-
mon atmospheric air takes 617 seconds, and
water 133 seconds, to be heated from the
freezing to the boiling point, mercury only
takes 58 seconds. The variation of mercury
in volume, within limits which include the
temperature most frequently required to be
observed, are found to be perfectly regular,
and proportional to the variations of tem-
perature. In order to render small changes
of volume sensible, a glass bulb, having a
slender hollow tube attached to it, is filled
with mercury, so that expansion or contrac-
tion can only take place by a rise or fall of
the liquid. The diameter of the tube may be
of any convenient size, but the smaller it is
the larger will be the scale of the variations.
It is essential that the bore of the tube be of
a uniform width throughout; a quality that
may be tested by drawing up into the tube a
short column of mercury, and measuring its
width at different parts with a pair of com-
passes. So important is this point in con-
structing a good thermometer, that scarcely
one in ten, as they come from the glass-house,
are fit for the purpose.
After a good tube has been selected and
filled with mercury, a scale must be adopted
in order to have a complete thermometer.
The graduation of the scale is in some degree
arbitrary; nevertheless, in order that different
thermometers may be comparable with each
other, it is necessary that two points, at least,
be taken on the scale corresponding to fixed
and determined temperatures, the distance
between which will determine the gradua-
tion. The two points which are now univer-
sally chosen for this purpose, are those which
correspond to the temperatures of freezing
and boiling water. With respect to the first,
there is not much difficulty, it being only
necessary to surround the bulb with ice, and
to mark on the stem the point at which the
mercury stands when the ice begins to melt;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
255
but the boiling point is not so easily deter-
mined. Several minute circumstances must
be attended to in determining this point with
accuracy. Water boils at different tempera-
tures, according to the pressure of the atmos-
phere; and the temperature of boiling water
is different at the top and near the bottom of
the vessel in which it boils. The vessel should
be of metal, because water boils at different
temperatures in vessels of different sub-
stances, such as metal and glass. Distilled
water, or clear, soft water, should be used, for
if mixed with any kind of saline ingredients
the temperature would be affected, and the
instrument rendered inaccurate. The ther-
mometer tube should not be plunged into the
water itself, for accurate purposes, but be
placed in the vapor that rises above it, in a
close vessel with an aperture to allow of its
escape.
The two points of freezing and boiling
being fixed, the distance between the two
may be be divided into any number of de-
grees at pleasure, and the graduation con-
tinued above and below these points as far as
may be thought necessary. The numeration
may also be begun at any point whatever on
the scale, but there are only three methods of
division so generally known or adopted as to
require particular notice. The first is Fahren-
heit's, which is commonly used in the United
States, Holland, and Great Britain and her
colonies; the second, Reaumer's, which was
formerly used in France, and is still used in
Spain and some parts of Germany; and the
third, that of Celsius, or the Centigrade
scale, now used in France, Germany, and
Sweden. It will be evident that whatever
scale be adopted, the divisions are founded on
the assumed principle that equal increase of
heat produces equal expansions; and the dif-
ference between these three scales is so well
known, or can be so easily ascertained, that it
is unnecessary for us to mention them other
than to give two examples of converting
Reaumer into Fahrenheit, and the reverse:
Multiply the degrees of Reaumer by 9,
divide the product by 4, and to the quotient
add 32. The sum expresses the degree on
the scale of Fahrenheit.
From the degree of Fahrenheit subtract
32, multiply the remainder by 4, and divide
the product by 9. The quotient is the degree
according to the scale of Reaumer.
There is a circumstance connected with
thermometers requiring particular attention
when very exact determinations of tempera-
ture are to be made. It has been observed
that when thermometers which have been
made for several years are placed in melting
ice, or otherwise exposed to cold, that the
liquid inside the tube stands higher than the
zero point of the scale; and this circumstance,
which renders the scale inaccurate, has been
usually ascribed to the slowness with which
the atoms of the glass tube acquire their per-
manent arrangement, after being heated to a
high degree, either in boiling the air out of
the mercury after the tube has been filled, or
by the heat used in making it. When ther-
mometers have been kept during a certain
time in a low temperature, the zero point
rises, but it falls when they have been kept in
a high temperature; and this remark applies
equally to old thermometers as it does to new
ones, or those recently constructed, and to
thermometers made of brass or other metals,
as well as to those made of glass tubes with a
liquid enclosed. (See article on Heat, page
99, current volume of the Journal.) When
great accuracy is required, as in scientific ex-
periments, it is always necessary to verify the
zero point.
From the above remarks it will be seen
that it is as difficult to find a correct ther-
mometer as it is to find a time-keeper abso-
lutely correct. The ordinary thermometer
will sometimes change its zero point as much
as three degrees. Apart from scientific ex-
periment, where accuracy is absolutely neces-
sary, we seldom in every-day life see two
thermometers that read the same. Besides
the causes above described, which are applic-
able to all constructions of thermometers, the
variation in the thermometers in common
use are aggravated in a great measure by the
capacity which the surface of the ther-
mometers, or large bodies in the neighbor-
hood, have for absorbing, radiating, and re-
flecting heat, in addition to the cool winds or
hot breezes that may be passing the vicinity.
The large and imposing thermometers in
common use in our leading thoroughfares,
for the purpose of attracting attention to
256
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
some particular place of business, for the j
above reasons, seldom indicate the true tern- j
perature. The thermometer that makes the
weather appear coldest when an extreme fall
of temperature takes place, and the one that
stands highest when the temperature sud-
denly rises to an extreme point, is always the
most popular, and it is the one the accuracy
of which is most readily believed by the
shivering, or sweating and sweltering crowds
of humanity that may be passing. But as we
have already remarked, a correct thermome-
ter is as difficult to find as- a correct time-
keeper, although in both instances they may
approach near enough to perfection to answer
the ordinary purposes of life, while their ec-
centricities are unobserved by the general
public.
REMINISCENCES OF AN APPRENTICE.
OUR TOWN CLOCK.
A familiar friend and monitor was our
town clock. It stood high up in the gray
sandstone steeple, in the centre of the town,
and, with its large, bright hands, told the
time to all ; willing to please and accomodate
everybody, north, south, east, and west. Few
troubled themselves as to how the hands went,
or what caused them to move. It was supposed
that they went twice round the dial every
twenty-four hours, and that was all that was
necessary. Our town clock was the standard
by which all the transactions of life in our
town and neighborhood were regulated. On
Saturday nights, when the ordinary house
clocks were wound up, if they were not with
the " town," they were set with it, in the
full assurance that everything was all right.
"When a dispute arose about the going of
watches, an appeal was made to our town
clock, and whatever watch happened to be
nearest to it, was right, as a matter of course.
The mail coach was pronounced to have
arrived late or early, according as our town
clock made it ; and, I have heard people re-
mark, when there was scarcely a cloud on the
sky, that it was soon dark to-night, or that
it was early light this morning, such was the
confidence people had in our town clock.
As far as I know, it had done its best to
please everybody, and, although universally
respected, it received but little attention.
True, once dui'ing a storm the wind wrenched
the hands off the dial facing the sea, and after
a time they were put on again, and a great
time there was about it. The man who was
lowered over the dial on a rope, and did the
work, was, in the eyes of the boys below, a
hero of the first magnitude, excelled only by
those who could climb up to the top of the
mast of a ship. I remember a very stout man
used to come from a neighboring town every
Saturday, and go in at the door at the foot of
the steeple, stay half an hour, and come out
again ; but we took little notice of what he
was doing, till on one occasion, during a
snow storm, our town clock stopped, and
remained stopped for several days. The
mysterious man went in at the door on
Saturday, as usual, and a little while after,
to the amazement of all the boys that wit-
nessed the sight, the hands of our town clock
commenced to move round at a rapid rate,
all at the same time, and they all stopped at
exactly the same place. This was a mystery
quite beyond our comprehension. It was
nothing strange for the hands to move slowly
twice round the dial every day; the moon and
sun appeared to move slowly, and why not
the hands of our town clock? but had the
moon or the sun, by some agency, been
moved round the whole circle of the heavens
in two minutes, it could not have created
more consternation — perhaps not so much ;
for there is only one moon, and one sun, but
our town clock had four pair of hands.
When the stout man emerged from the door
at the foot of the steeple, puffing and blowing,
and covered with dust and perspiration, he
was at once set down as the cause of the
mystery ; and, every Saturday afterwards,
he was eagerly watched for, while all the
time he was inside we gazed at the dials to
see if the hands would not move again. Once
I had the courage to follow him cautiously
up two flights of stairs, and along a passage
that led into a dark room, and in looking up,
there was a series of long ladders, reaching
far up, and the stout man at the top of one
of them, struggling desperately to get himself
through a hatchway in one of the floors. I
would not venture farther, but felt sure that
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
257
there was something at the top of these
ladders that ought to be explored. So things
went on in our town, and the townsfolk were
satisfied. The town bell was rung every
morning at six o'clock, and every evening at
six and at ten o'clock ; and, if workmen were
late or early at their work, or came home too
soon, or too late, everything was right if they
came and went by the town clock.
After a time a steam railroad was built
through our town, and strange as it may
seem, the trains on that railroad, going in
either direction, would never come in or go
out of the station at the time our town clock
said they should ; but, of course the trains
ran too fast or too slow, and when anybody
missed the train, the railway people got all
the blame, as they deserved to get. At
length, the railway folk got a clock of their
own, and said their time should be regulated
by it. Now, was it not presumptuous on
their part to make us believe that their small
and insignificant clock, with only one pair of
hands, was better than our large and respect-
able town clock ? How could a new-fangled
set of people that were running steam-engines
on wheels, know if they were running them
too slow or too fast, and how could they get
any better authority than our town clock ?
But these railway people would listen to
no reasoning on the matter, and they positive-
ly refused to run their trains to suit our
town clock.
About this time, or later, fate placed me
as an apprentice in a watchmaker's shop, and
the very first day I was there my boyish
feelings were shocked at the irreverent man-
ner in which " our maister " spoke about the
town clock. Customers complained that their
watches would not keep time with the town
clock, and it appeared to me that "our
maister " was as bad, or worse, than the rail-
way folks in his estimation of our town clock.
Among one of the first days I was at the
business, on hearing the town clock strike, I
put on my cap and jacket and was going out
of the shop ; on being asked where I was
going, I replied that I was going for my din-
ner, but was promptly called back to wait
half an hour. I waited, but it was a tyranny
that I would not submit to. I had always
before got my dinner by the town clock, and
why not now? My spirit rebelled against
this injustice to myself and our town clock,
and I did not go back to work that afternoon.
One day, shortly afterwards, our town
clock stopped ; it had stopped sometimes
before, but on these occasions the wind blew
hard, or there had been a snow storm, and
these were considered satisfactory reasons
for it stopping ; but in this instance it was
fine summer weather, and the people were
at a loss to account for its acting so, but a
sufficient excuse was soon found in its favor.
It appeared that, sometime before, the stout
gentleman that used to come from a neigh-
boring town to look at our clock once a week,
stopped coming, and his place was supplied
by a shoemaker, a veritable knight of St.
Crispin, who undertook the duty of visiting
our town clock once a week, and it was little
wonder that it felt indignant at the change,
and, quite fearless of the terrors of stirrup
oil, or a waxing, it stopped altogether, to
mark its indignation at being looked after by
a shoemaker.
We had a genius in our town, as there is
one in every other town, who supplemented
his income as a hand-loom weaver, by clean-
ing clocks. Johnny was a quiet, inoffensive
body, and I do not doubt but there were
latent talents for mechanics within him,
which, if they had been properly developed,
might have been of service to himself and the
world. At all events, Johnny had a hanker-
ing after clocks, and I remember, if he was
carrying a clock, when he had occasion to
pass our shop, he always hung down his head
and tried to hide the clock underneath his
coat. His skill in the business was, in the
eyes of some people, perfectly prodigious.
Certainly Johnny would stick at nothing, and
nothing daunted him. Without his having
the slightest knowledge of the elementary
principles of making or sizing a pinion, I
saw a pinion that he put in a clock, and
which he made out of the solid steel without
the aid of any tools whatever except a rough
three-cornered file, and the owner of the
clock was satisfied that it was very much im-
proved with the new pinion, and that it was
better than if it had been done by the regu-
lar watchmaker. Johnny's services were
called into requisition to try and persuade
258
AMEBICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUKNAL.
our town clock to move on as usual. He
went up into the steeple, and, either by
accident or design, made the clock strike two
or three times. Now there is nothing strange
in a clock striking itself at the proper hours,
but the fact of making it strike at any other
time showed great learning; and any of the
people who had been dubious about Johnny's
qualifications for the work, had their doubts
removed by this display of his skill.
For a few weeks afterwards our town clock
appeared to have relented, and the shoe-
maker and it appeared to be getting along
tolerably well together, when suddenly the
old indignation came over it. It would stop,
and then for a few days go on again ; then
it would go fast one day, and slow the next.
Some Sabbaths the farmers and the people
from neighboring towns would be half an
hour late for church, and the next Sabbath
they would have to sit half an hour waiting
for the minister ; and after revenging itself
in various ways, our town clock stopped al-
together, and it positively refused to proceed
one minute farther, or to strike another
hour.
Now the crisis had come, and what was to
be done to induce our town clock to behave
itself in a becoming manner ? This question
was in no danger of remaining unanswered
for a lack of wisdom, because a superfluity of
that gift was the very thing that stood in the
way of the question being settled. Various
plans were proposed, but for a long time
nothing could be decided upon. At last,
after mature deliberation, it was decided
that the clock needed cleaning — a fact there
was not much reason to doubt, seeing that
it had not been cleaned for twenty years
or more.
" Our maister's " opinion was called for in
the matter, and in the face of the fact that
our town clock had regulated all the move-
ments of the town for twenty years, he ad-
vanced the heresy that it had never been
right since it was put up; or if it ever
went well for twenty-four hours in succes-
sion, it was by accident. " Our maister " was
usually a humorous, good-natured man, but
evidently he had no sympathy for the town
clock, and nothing less than a radical change
in its construction would please him.
I have mentioned that " our maister " was
a humorous individual, and I would also add
that he had and deserved the confidence of
the inhabitants of our town, but the hard
things he said against our town clock brought
him enemies. It was as bad as setting up a
new religion, to question the soundness of
our town clock ; but " our maister," although
he did not receive the support of the other
watchmaker in the town, maintained he had
every opportunity of testing its soundness by
its performance, while theirs was but a blind
belief. The matter was the subject of much
conversation among all classes, while it was
ably and logically discussed by the scientific
weavers of the town. Public examinations
of our town clock were now frequently made,
and the worthies went about it with as much
gravity, and looked upon themselves as great
public benefactors, as if they were going off
on an expedition to tha North Pole to exam-
ine and grease the pivot of the earth that is
supposed to be up there. These parties in-
variably made the clock strike a number of
times so that all the town would know the ex-
act instant that their deliberations were
going on, and some of them, to give double
proof of their skill, would make the hands go
round rapidly a number of times; but when
" our maister " went up he never made it
strike — at least if he had occasion to put the
striking machinery in motion, the hammer
was always prevented from falling on the
bell, and so his skill was not so loudly pro-
claimed as that of the others.
About this time a natural watchmaker
came from the Highlands on a visit to our
town, and he was considered a fit and proper
person to put our town clock to rights. His
skill in repairing watches was tremendous,
and he was never known to take a gold pin
out of a watch and put a bit of common
wire in its place. He had worked for some
years at a perpetual motion machine, and he
had it nearly completed ; he only wanted one
thing, and it was done. He examined our
town clock, made it strike many times, and
he made the hands spin round at a great
rate, and then took sides with the party
against the regular clockmakers, just as natu-
ral as a quack doctor takes sides against the
regular medical practitioner. Finally it was
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
259
agreed that something must be done, and a
committee was appointed to collect money to
pay for the repairing of our town clock ; and
this part of the business they thoroughly
understood, for they soon collected dE20. A
meeting was called to decide what was to be
done. Our Highland friend offered to clean
the clock and make everything right, and
grease it with some kind of patent oil that
would make it run almost without any
weights, for the modest sum of £±. The
other watchmaker in the town would do it in
a workmanlike manner for £6, while " our
maister " actually wanted the whole £20, and
thought it little enough.
Now, could there be any greater proof of
the roguery that exists in our trade than
this, or the wide manner in which doctors
sometimes differ ? As for the Highland pro-
fessor, he was skilful and honest, beyond
doubt. The other watchmaker was only a
trifle less honest, but he was to be excused
because he was a watchmaker; but "our
maister" — only think of it — he wanted five
times more money for making our town
clock right than the honest professor did,
and that, too, after saying so many hard
things about it. " Our maister " wanted to
give it a new pendulum, twice as long as the
old one, a new escapement, and the wheels
altered to answer the long pendulum, and
the other parts to be thoroughly repaired
and painted and lacquered. The Highland
professor argued that the pendulum was
"weel eneuch," that it made no difference
about the length if it was heavy enough ;
and it ivas heavy enough ; and he also drew
notice to the fact that " our maister " said
nothing about cleaning anything, which was
the most important thing to be done, but he
was only going to paint and lacquer it. The
other watchmaker said but little ; he stood
on his dignity, for had not " our maister "
learned his trade with him ? — and it was there-
fore easy for him to see who knew best what
the clock really did want. The money, how-
ever, was collected to repair the clock, and
had to be spent for that purpose ; and al-
though, in the eyes of the public, a new pen-
dulum or a new escapement was of little
importance, the proposal to alter the wheels
seemed to please the scientific ones. They
seemed to think that while new wheels were
to be put in, the old ones were also to be re-
tained, and consequently the clock would
have more power, and would go better ; and
this unsophisticated idea carried the day,
with but few dissenting voices, and " our
maister " was empowered to make the clock to
his satisfaction.
The work was commenced, and after a
number of months everything, from the bell
away up in the steeple to the saw-dust box
for the clock weights, was put in perfect order,
and all was as neat as a new pin. In fact, so
very particular was " our maister " with every-
thing, that once I was afraid he was going to
make us polish the great big weights the
clock had.
When the work was completed, our town
clock behaved itself to the satisfaction of all,
and even the railway folks began to respect
it. It was the special pride of " our maister,"
and he wound it every week himself while
I helped him. In a few years I got larger
and stronger, and had learned enough to
take care of it myself. Fnally, a strong de-
sire to develop and fully comprehend all the
mysteries of our town clock, and which has
grown on me with years, induced me to seek
wider fields of observation, and " our maister"
resumed charge of it himself ; but his eyes
suddenly failed him at an early age, and he
retired from business, and I fear that our
town clock is again sadly neglected. When
I retrace my wandering steps and climb up
those long ladders again on a visit to the
place where, in my boyhood days, I thought
there was so much mystery, I shall be glad
to find our town clock in as good condition
as " our maister " left it.
THE BOREL AND C0URY0ISIER WATCH.
Messrs. Quinche & Krugler desire us to
say, in answer to numerous queries in re-
gard to the advance in price of the Borel and
Courvoisier movements, that it is in conse-
quence of the increased duties on foreign
watches, and that they have divided the
amount, adding only one-half the actual
increased cost.
260
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
A FEW WORDS ON PENDULUMS.
EDITOB HoBOLOGICAL .JoTTBNAL :
Having read with much satisfaction many
valuable articles in your Journal, and among
others some very interesting ones upon pendu-
lums, the thought occurred to me that per-
haps a few more words might be written on
that subject which would make it more clear
to those who had not given it that careful
thought and attention which the authors of
the articles referred to had supposed.
The celebrated Christian Huyghens demon-
Fig. 1.
perfect pendulum, which can only be a crea-
ture of the imagination. The reasons why a
cycloidal pendulum possesses this quality
will appear from the following demonstra-
tion :
We lay down as a fundamental proposition
that the velocity of a cycloidal pendulum in
its lowest point is proportional to the space
passed through, viz. : the arc of the cycloid
which the pendulum has described in its de-
scent.
Now, it is obvious that the base B C E, in
Fig. 1, is equal to the circumference of the
generating circle, for it is rolled over it, to
make the curve just one revolution.
Then the axis of the cycloid D C, is equal
to the diameter of the generating circle.
The part F E, of the base, viz. : the part
between one extremity of it, and the place
which touches the generating circle in any
situation of it, is equal to the corresponding
arc F G, or H C, of the generating circle ;
the ordinate G I, being parallel to the base
C F, or its equal I K, is equal to the remain-
ing arc H D, or G L.
The chord Gr F is perpendicular to the
cycloid. The chord G L, being perpendicu-
lar to G F, is a tangent to the cycloid at G.
The tangent at G is parallel and equal to
strated that all the vibrations of a cycloidal
pendulum, whether long or short, are per-
formed in equal times ; but whilst to an adept
the isochronism of the cycloidal pendulum
is perfectly clear, there are those of the
guild that furnishes the world with time, to
whom this subject is not so clear. Now, as I
suppose the mission of the Horological
Journal is to enlighten that class of workmen,
it may not be amiss to say that when a circle
A containing a point B is rolled over a straight
line C, the curve described by that point in
its passage is called a cycloid curve, D.
A pendulum whose point of
percussion or centre of oscillation
describes this curve, is called a
cycloidal pendulum. The reader
will please remark that I have
stated, point of percussion or
centre of oscillation^ not the centre
of gravity, nor the centre of the
pendulum ball, for those only
coincide in a mathematically
the chord H D, also the chord G F is equal
and parallel to H C.
The length of the semicycloid D G E is
equal to twice the diameter D C of the
generating circle ; and any cycloidal arc G D
cut off by a line G I parallel to the base, is
equal to twice the chord D H, of the corre-
sponding circular arc D H, which is cut off by
the same line G. I.
A mere statement of these properties of
cycloid we deem sufficient for our purpose;
and now, to change the figure for convenience
of illustration, if the pendulum begin to de-
scend from B, Fig. 2, at V its velocity will be
as the arc B V; and if it begin to descend
from L, then when it arrives at the lowest
point Y, its velocity will be as the arc L V.
A body will acquire the same velocity,
whether it descends obliquely from L to V, or
perpendicularly from R to V.
Also the square of the velocity of a falling
body is as the space passed through, or the
velocity is as the square root of the space ;
therefore the velocity acquired by the pendu-
lum L in its descent from L to V is as \Zr V.
But R V : V O : : V O : D V, consequently R V
= V O -f- D V, and D V being a constant
quantity, R V is as V O2, or -y/u V (viz., the
velocity in question) is as V 0, which is equal
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
261
to half the cycloidal arc Y L ; hence the Velocity
is as the cycloidal arc, or space passed over.
Fig. 2.
the same. There are certain reasons why
the cycloidal pendulum is not available, which
I do not propose to discuss at this time; but
I mentioned the fact that the centre of oscil-
lation and the centre of gravity were not
identical, and perhaps it would be well to
more particularly notice this property of the
pendulum. If a pendulum consists of a
spherical body fastened to a string, most per-
sons would imagine that the length of the
pendulum must be estimated from the point
of suspension to the centre of the ball, but the
real length of the pendulum is greater than
that distance. The reason of which is, that
the spherical body does not move in a straight
line, but in a circular arc; in consequence oi
■which that half of it which is furthest from
the point of suspension, runs through a longer
space than the half which is nearer the point
of suspension, and the two halves of the ball
though containing equal quantities of matter,
do actually move with different velocities;
therefore their momentums are not equal. If
the ball of the pendulum could be concen-
trated into one point, that point would be the
centre of oscillation. The centre of the ball
is the centre of gravity, but the centre of
oscillation is in the lower half of the ball on
account of its increased momentum. The
centre of percussion is that part or point of
a pendulous body which will make the great-
est impression on an obstacle that may be
opposed to it whilst vibrating; for if the
obstacle be opposed to it at different distances
from the point of "suspension, the stroke or
percussion will not be equally powerful, and
it will soon appear that this centre of percus-
sion does not coincide with the centre of
gravity.
Let the body A B, consisting of two equal
balls fastened to « stiff rod, move in a direc-
Fig. 3.
But in all sorts of motion the space is as
the product of the time multiplied by the
velocity, viz., S is as T V,
which gives the following anal-
ogy, S : V : : T : 1 (space is
to velocity as time is to unity).
But it has just been shown that
in case of a cycloidal vibration
the space passed over is as the
velocity ; therefore the time
must be as unity, or always
tion parallel to itself, it is evident that the
two balls must have equal momentums, since
their quantities of mat-
ter are equal, and they
move with equal velo-
cities. If on its way an
obstacle C be opposed
exactly against its
middle, E, the body
will be effectually stop-
ped, nor can either end
of it move forwards.
But let an obstacle be
opposed to it nearer
to one end not in the
direction of the centre
of gravity, and only part of the momentum
will be expended upon the obstacle, and the
other end will move forward with the unex-
pended momentum, as shown by the dotted
representation; nor will the percussion be so
powerful as in
the foregoing
case. But in a
pendulum the
case is differ-
ent; for let the
same body* be
suspended by
the addition of
a line A S,
which line we
will suppose to
be devoid of
weight and
flexibility, and
let it vibrate
from the point
of suspension
S ; it is evident that the two balls will
not move with the same velocities, for one
Fig. L
2G2
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
describes a larger arc in the same time than
the other, and of course the point where the
forces of the two balls balance each other lies
nearer the lower ball, consequently the point
of percussion does not coincide with the
centre of gravity; but it is that point wherein
all the forces of all the parts of the body may
be conceived to be concentrated. Hence, the
centre of percussion and the centre of oscil-
lation coincide. It is this difference of these
centres, that is of oscillation and gravity,
that renders it so difficult, and I might say
impossible to perfectly compensate a pen-
dulum.
Whilst the centre of gravity may be main-
tained, the centre of oscillation is changed by
the very forces that maintain the other, and
for this reason Graham's mercurial pendu-
lum is not absolutely perfect, and for thin
reason Mr. Grossin ami's pendulum, though
reflecting great credit on his ingenuity, is
worse than Graham's. The true principle of
pendulums is as near as possible to concen-
trate the weight of the pendulum in one
point, and compensate with as little expan-
sion as possible. It strikes me, with all due
deference to others, that a wooden pendu-
lum, made of straight-grained, well-seasoned
white pine, and properly protected from the
moisture of the atmosphere by varnish (which
will need, according to Dr. Rittenhouse,
something less of compensation than glass),
properly compensated in the pendulum ball
itself, either in the material or form, would
give less trouble than the elaborate ones
made of other materials. The smallest vibra-
tion possible to the running of clock-work
should be aimed at, for if the pendulous
body could move along the chords of arcs,
instead of the arcs themselves, the semi-vibra-
tions, whether long or short, would be all per-
formed in equal times, viz. : each in the time
that a body would employ in descending per-
pendicularly along the diameter of the circle,
or twice the length of the pendulum. But in
very small arcs the chords are nearly equal to
the arcs which they subtend ; therefore, the
vibrations along very small arcs, though of
unequal lengths, are performed in times
nearly equal.
J. C. Hagey.
Jarrettsville, Md.
HARDENING STEEL.
Editor Horological Journal :
In making small articles of steel, one often
has to devote more time and labor to finish-
ing and polishing a piece of work, after
hardening, than was previously expended in
its manufacture. Steel may be hardened
without scaling, or injury to finish.
First, dissolve common salt in soft water,
until there is an excess of salt at the bottom
of the vessel; take a quantity of buckwheat
or coarse flour, and some of the salt solution,
sufficient to make a thick paste, which should
be thick enough to retain its form and shape
when in use ; cover the article to be harden-
ed with this paste, pressing it together firmly,
so that it shall adhere to every part of the
surface. A small article will require a coat-
ing at least as thick as its diameter ; a large
piece requires a thicker coating, and should
be of sufficient quantity to prevent the sur-
face of the steel being exposed during the
process. Heat it carefully at first, until the
water is all evaporated; then bring the mass
to a bright red heat, and plunge it into the
salt bath until nearly cold. After washing,
the surface will appear of a dirty white, or, if
not very hard, of a light gray, as if stoned off
for polishing, then polish and temper, as
usual. This process may not be new to
others, but it is original with me.
G. M. Howe.
Madrid, N. Y., March 25, 1871.
SIZES OF PINIONS.
.Editor Horological Journal:
The query of " Saxon," in the March No.
of the Journal, should appeal to the good
sense of every watchmaker who reads it.
Watchmakers, like men of other trades, are
apt to rely too much upon printed state-
ments, and give them a greater value than
their reason, if brought to-bear upon the sub-
ject, would allow. Even if a clock should
require a relatively larger pinion, which no
one upon consideration can allow, the inter-
esting query might be put as to at what size
a watch ceased to be a watch and be-
came a clock. Ried and other writers make
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
263
no distinction between the names watch and
clock ; certainly none in the sizes of pinions,
etc. The only differences in large and small
wheels' pinions, that I ever heard of, are in
the manner of drawing the Epicycloid arc
on the teeth. On small wheels it can be
drawn in a single arc, but large wheels re-
quire separate arcs for flanks and faces ; but
small wheels, in this case, refer to wheels
even larger than six inches. In laying out a
pinion there are certain laws more infallible
than those of the " Medes and Persians,
which altereth not." They ought to be
understood by every watchmaker, although
they are required in practice very seldom, if
ever.
A set of arbitrary sizes are to be avoided,
because they cannot, in all cases, be correct ;
and a man who knew no other way would be
just as likely to take out a correct pinion,
which did not agree with this standard, and
put in a bad pinion that did. The best way,
and one within reach at all times, is to try
the wheel and pinion in the depthing tool.
If the pinion is lost, set the tool to the proper
distance between the centres and try pinions
till the proper one is found. The workman
must come to that finally, no matter by what
rule he selects the pinion at first. Clock
pinions may be lost, and no doubt have
been ; but rarely as they are lost, it will be
just as rare to find a watchmaker who has
the means of replacing them at all, let the
size be what it will, so that part of it is
hardly practical ; but with the size of the
wheel, number of teeth of the wheel, and
number of revolutions of the required pinion,
being given, it is very easy to give the size of
the pinion and the distance from the centre
of the wheel to the centre of the pinion, to
the thousandth part of an inch.
Sag Harbor, L. I. B. F. H.
"We perfectly agree with 'B. F. H.," that a
set of arbitrary rules are to be avoided in lay-
ing out a pinion, and that there are certain
geometrical laws more infallible than those of
the " Medes and Persians," and which ought
to be understood by all watchmakers. These
same laws teach us that there is a difference
in a pinion according to the number of teeth
contained in the wheel that it works into.
Ried does not draw the line to determine the
point when a watch ceases to be a watch and
becomes a clock, because it is as unnecessary
to do so as it is to settle the exact point when
a pair of plyers become blacksmiths' tongs.
On page 101 of the first edition of his work,
Ried gives a table for sizing pinions, where
he makes a distinction between the sizes of
pinions for watches and those for clocks.
Mr. Spiro's table resembles it in some points,
and he advances his views further on the sub-
ject in this number of the Journal. "We do
not hold ourselves responsible for anything
written over the signature of a correspondent,
and would only mention that we never sup-
posed that Ried made the distinction in his
book solely on the grounds that the pinions
were intended for a watch or a clock, but for
the reason that the trains of wheels in watches
and clocks, not being of the same numbers,
the sizes of the pinions varied a little in pro-
portion to the number of teeth contained in
the wheels, and consequently he gave the ta-
ble for the convenience of those making clocks
and watches under the system common in
those days.
"We coincide with the views of our corre-
spondent, " Saxon," that the system of sizing
pinions by measuring the teeth of the wheels
with callipers, is at the best but a rude meth-
od. In reply to his querries, we say that there
is no difference in the size of a pinion of a
given number of leaves, working into a wheel
of a given number of teeth, whether employed
in a watch or in any description of clock-
work, when they work under the same conditions,
and under the same circumstances.
ANSWER.
EDITOE HoBOLOGICAIi JoURKAL I
In answer to " Saxon's" " Query," it must
be admitted that in the theory of sizing
pinions by the number of their leaves, there is
no reason why pinions intended for clock-
work should be disproportionately larger than
those intended for watch- work; but in prac-
tice it has been deemed prudent, by ex-
perienced clock-makers, to enlarge pinions
having a certain number of leaves, in order
to counteract the influence of wear and tear
264
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
occasioned by the disproportionately larger
amount of motive force generally employed
in clock-work than that employed in watch-
work, as well as possible without sacrifice to
good gearing. How often do we see clocks
coming for repairs, the teeth of their wheels
perfect round stumps from wear, and thereby
rendering the gearing so shallow as to make
going absolutely impossible. But we are
limited to a certain number of pinion leaves
with which to apply the above principle, for
the reason that other pinions are debarred
therefrom by their calculation, which in their
case would render good gearing impossible.
It is for the above reasons the table of pinion
sizes has been set up in the manner referred
to by " Saxon." Chables Spiro.
MONOGRAMS.
The most innocent " mania " is the sudden
fancy for monograms. To be good, a design
must be iugenious, perplexing, and graceful.
Combinations are infinite in possibilities of
arrangement, and the finest faculties of artist
and geometrician are inwoven in the web of
the design. We have had many successful
designers in this art, but all we have done,
gathered into one work, would be hopelessly
eclipsed by the recent publication of J. Sabin
& Sous, 84 Nassau street, New York, an oc-
tavo volume of 78 plates, and over 1,000
designs. Among these are alphabetically ar-
ranged monogrammatic pictures of rarest
grace and beauty, and many are extremely
surprising puzzles. The general arrange-
ment is first in single groups of two, from A
to Z, in the most usual combinations. These
are again involved in more intricate studies,
and finally wrought into a full web of a whole
name or a poetical motto. Many alphabets
of curious and beautiful capitals, close the
volume, combined with a group of coronal
heraldry.
As a contribution to the jeweller's stock of
designs, it is priceless ; as a mere work of
art, a delightful study, and even a pastime.
As to its origin, some of its designs are the
love-works of the master artists of Europe,
and the engraving is the finest of lithograph.
We predict a great popularity for this beau-
tiful volume. Price $6,50, $7.50, and $8.00.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH
MEAN TIME.
For May, 1871.
J4
Sidereal
v Time
of
the Semi-
diameter
Passing
Equatioa
Sidereal
a
of
Equation
Time
Day
of
Time to be
Subtracted
of
Time to be
Dlff.
for
or
Right!
o
Mon.
'from
Apparent
Added to
Mean Time.
One
Hour.
Ascension
of
R
Meridian.
Time.
Mean Sun.
8.
H. a.
M. B.
'8.
H. JC 1.
M
1
66.04
3 0.76
3 0.78
0.323
2 35 53 51
Tu
f,
66 12
3 8.25
3 8.27
0.301
2 39 50 07
W
3
66.20
3 15.20
3 15.21
0.278
2 43 46.63
Th
4
66.28
3 21.59
8 21.60
0.255
2 47 43 18
Fri
ft
66 36
3 27.43
3 27.44
0.231
2 51 39 73
Sat,
6
66.44
3 32.71
3 32 72
0.207
2 65 36 29
Rn
7
66.52
3 37.41
3 37.42
0.183
2 59 32.84
M
8
66.61
3 41.54
8 41.55
0.159
3 3 29 40
Tn
9
66.69
3 45.09
3 45.10
0.135
3 7 25 95
W,
10
66 78
3 48.05
3 48.06
0.110
3 11 22.51
Th
11
66.86
3 50 41
3 50.42
0.086
3 15 19.07
Fri
n
66.94
3 52.18
3 52.18
0.061
3 19 15.62
Sat
18
67.02
3" 53 36
3 53.36
0.037
3 28 12.18
Rn
14
67.10
3 53.94
3 53.94
0.012
3 27 8.78
M
IS
67.18
8 5S.94
3 53.94
0.012
3 31 5.29
Tu
16
67.26
3 53.35
3 63.35
0.037
3 35 1 85
W
17
67.34
3 52.17
8 52.17
0.061
3 38 58.41
Th
18
67.42
3 50.42
3 50 42
0.085
g 42 54.96
Fri
19
67.50
3 48.12
3 48.11
0.108
3 46 51.51
Sat
70
67.58
3 45.27
3 45.26
0.131
3 50 48.07
Sti
21
67.66
3 41.87
3 41.86
0.154
3 54 44.63
M .
22
67.73
3 37 94
3 37.93
0.176
3 58 41.19
Tu
23
67.82
3 33.48
3 3 '.47
0.197
4 2 37.74
W
24
67.89
3 28.51
3 28 51
0.218
4' 6 84.30
Th
25
67. 9«
3 23.05
3 23.04
0.238
4 10 30.85
Fri
26
68.03
3 17 12
3 17.11
0.258
4 14 27.41
Sat
27
68.10
3 10.73
3 10 71
0.277
4 18 23.97
an
28
68.16
3 3 88
3 3.86
0.296
4 22 20.53
M
29
68.23
2 56.57
2 56.55
0.314
4 26 17.08
Tn
30
68.29
2 48 82
2 48.80
0.332
4 30 13.64
W.
31
68.35
2 40.64
2 40.62
0.350
4 34 10 20
Mean time of the Seniidiameter passing may be found by sub-
tracting 0.18s. from tbe sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean neon may be assumed the same as
that for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE KOON.
D. H. M.
Full Moon 4 11 0.3
Last Quarter... 11 2 23.6
New Moon 18 22 45 1
First Quarter 27 1 2.1
( Perigee
( Apogee
5 8 2
20 3.9
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48 1
H. m. s.
Long. Harvard Ob=ervatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange , . . 5 24 20.572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062
Point Conception 8 142.64
Venus..
Jupiter.
Saturn.
APPARENT
E. ASCENSION.
H. M. S.
4 52 29.63..,
5 39 47.02..
18 42 18.05..
APPARENT
DECLINATION.
MERID.
Passage.
o / , h. M.
. + 24 2 2.8 2 16.7
. + 23 15 26.6. 3 3.5
.-22 17 43.6 16 3.7
AMERICAN
Horoloffical Journal.
Vol. n.
NEW YOKE, JUNE, 1871
No. 12.
CONTENTS.
Essay on the Constbuction of a Simple and
Mechanically Perfect Watch 265
Alloys of Gold — No. 2 271
Reminiscences of an Apprentice — Making Pins, 273
The Pendulum as Applied to the Measubement
of Time, 275
Monogbammatic Art 282
Answers to Corbespondents, 283
The Horological Journal, 284
Equation of Time Table, 284
(Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Millsr, in tbe
office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
ESSAY
ON THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANI-
CALLY PERFECT WATCH.
BY MOERITZ GROSSMAXN.
CHAPTER IX .
THE JEWELLING.
98. The jewelling i.s an improvement in
horology belonging to its newest period. It
is evidently a great progress to introduce
a material indestructible by friction, not sus-
ceptible to chemical influences, and capable
of the highest polish, for the bearings of the
pivots, thereby insuring the stability of their
actions, the preservation of the oil, and the
reduction of frictional resistance to a mini-
mum.
99. Jewel holes ought to be well examined
before using them, because, if the hole is not
carefully polished, or if its edges are ragged,
they are worse than metal holes, for they
wear the pivot very quickly.
100. According to my opinion, a movement
ought to be jewelled throughout. The price
of a pair of jewel holes is not so high as to
form an obstruction to their use, and espe-
cially the pallet holes ought not to be left
without jewelling. The angular motion of
the pallet is very trifling, it is true, but ex-
perience tells us that when grinding any
substance, the reciprocating motion answers
best of all, and the wear of a pivot in its
hole is nothing else but a very slight degree
of grinding. Besides, the jewelling of the
pallet holes might be thought ueeful by the
diminution of friction, and this is very essen-
tial in the lever, the inertia and resistance of
which has to be overcome at every beat of
the escapement.
101. For similar reasons, the third and
fourth wheel holes ought also to be jewelled,
if the quality and intended value of the watch
will any way warrant the expense.
102. To have the escapement, that is, the
wheel and pallet cap jewelled, or with end-
stones, is more a matter of taste than of
practical utility. In the case of the balance,
with its quick vibration ?to the extent of
about 400°, it is of the utmost importance to
avoid the amount of additional friction which
would result from the bearing of shoulders
against the faces of the holes, and thus the
end-stones of the balance cannot be dispensed
with. It will be obvious at the first glance,
that the pallet and wheel work under vastly
different circumstances. In a movement of
the usual arrangement, the pattet makes an
angular movement of 10° to 15° for every
vibration of the balance, and the wheel
accomplishes, if it has fifteen teeth, 12° of its
rotation in the same period. Besides, their
weight cannot be supposed to press so much
in the vertical direction, because they are'
working under a continual and considerable'
side pressure. But the greatest difference
between the position of balance pivots and
that of wheel and pallet is, that these latter
parts may be made as light as possible, while
the balance is, and must be, considerably
heavier.
103. The difference between the friction of
266
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
a plain jewelled pivot and a cap jewelled
one, is extremely email. According to a
generally established law in mechanics, that,
the pressure being the same, the amount of
friction is not altered by the extent of the
bearing surface, it would be nil. But in our
case, and especially because lubrication is re-
quired, the adhesion must be considered.
Anyhow, the resistance to the motion of the
cap jewelled pivot can only be easier as the
ratio of the difference of the bearing surface,
and this difference between the surface of the
pivot end and that of a properly reduced
shoulder, is a trifling one. With an angular
motion of more than thirty times the extent
of that of the wheel and pallet, it acquires, of
course, a greater importance, and therefore
the end-stones are indispensable to the bal-
ance. I freely admit that there is a little
economy of power in the cap jewelled escape-
ment, but I wish only to point out that this
very trifling advantage is generally over-
rated. The fact that a number of the best
English watches are without end-stones to
the escapement, seems to indicate that the
English horologists look at this matter about
in the way above mentioned.
104. The employment of a diamond as an
end-stone to the upper balance pivot, is a
very good practice, because the watch, in its
horizontal position, performs with almost all
the friction on this pivot end, and the ex-
treme hardness and fine polish of the diamond
face will reduce the wear and friction to their
smallest amount. It only requires some care
to select the diamonds, because among those
which can be bought in the material shops,
there are sometimes pieces defective in the
point of polish ; and, in this case, instead of
conserving the pivot, they might prove the
means of its destruction.
105. The good and careful execution of the
balance holes forms the most important point
■in the jewelling of a watch. Not only must
they show, like all the other jewel holes, an
irreproachable polish, but they must be
pIO# 2i. rounded in a proper
manner in order to
make the friction in
the vertical and
horizontal positions
t qual, or as nearly so as it can be done.
Fig. 25.
106. It may be considered a good plan to
make the balance *
holes on the conical
method, in order to
give them a greater
strength, and to facil-
itate the entrance of the pivot when putting
the balance-cock on ; but they require great
care in their shape, lest the adhesion might
be increased. Besides, a cock with its steady
pins, made in the way previously described
(83), renders it very easy to put the cock on
without injuring the jewel hole.
107. The setting of the jewels is a matter
of very different execution. In some, espe-
cially the better class of English watches, the
jewels are set in brass or gold settings, which
latter are fitted into holes with countersinks,
and fastened with screws, the heads of which
partly intersect the circumference of the set-
ting, while the thread is tapped in the plate,
and the head of the screw sunk into it, so as
to be level with its surface.
108. The advantage claimed for setting
jewels in this way, is a greater facility of re-
placing a broken or damaged jewel without
regilding the plate or cock. This, however,
does not weigh very heavy, because if a good
stock of jewel holes is within convenient reach,
it will be easy to find one fitting into the old
setting ; and even if this should not be the
case, the purpose can be attained by setting
the new jewel in a piece of brass wire of suit-
able thickness. This wire, after being turned
exactly concentric to the hole, and of a slight
Fig. 26.''
taper, is adjusted into the hole in the plate,
previously turned out, and then it is cut off
at a length a little in excess of what it is
required to be/ This setting now must be
gently driven into the hole in the plate till
the proper end-shake is attained. The plate
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
267
or cock is then cemented to a flat chuck, and
well centred to the hole in the jewel, after
which, the taper is turned. If the brass set-
ting has been turned to a proportionate size,
it will be easily attainable that the taper ex-
tends a little beyond it into the plate ; and
in a plain jewelled watch, if well done, the
replacing of a jewel in the way just described,
can hardly be detected.
109. A movement with plain set jewels is
in no way inferior to one with screwed jewels,
even, as has been explained, in the very ex-
ceptional case of the replacement of a jewel
hole. The movement with screwed jewels
has a more elegant appearance, but it im-
plies, if not done with the greatest care and
discernment, a vast deal of trouble in the
manufacturing, and still more so in the re-
pairing. Not only must all the screws and
jewels be taken out for thoroughly cleaning
a watch, and put in again, but the very little
thickness in which the screws have to take
their hold, is a great source of annoyance to
the repairer, especially in the English watches,
with their thin upper plates of brass, render-
ed quite soft by gilding, and with screws of
rather coarse threads. (22.) -Any screw fail-
ing in its hold, has to be replaced by one of
the next number of thread, having by its
greater thickness still less chance of a sound
hold, and very often it is necessary to make
other holes at fresh places. If, now, the
screwed jewel presents the advantage of easy
replacement of a broken jewel without leav-
ing any lasting mark of the operation, this
small advantage may be considered to be
neutralized by the above-mentioned draw-
backs.
110. However, the screwed jewelling may
be improved in such a way as to make it
much less liable to failure. There is not the
slightest necessity for countersinking the
screws in the upper plate ; they might, with-
out the least detriment to their functions,
have fiat heads, rounded at the top, which
merely serve to hold the jewel down in its
place, thereby reserving the whole thickness
of the plate for the hold of the screws. The
jewel setting might be dotted as usual, for al-
ways having it in the same place in its sink,
which is not without importance ; and if it
should be thought necessary to insure this
position of the jewel, even against careless re-
pairers, who might not pay any attention to
the dotting, this might easily be attained by
drilling a very small hole in the bottom of the
countersink, into which a pin might be driven,
and for the reception of which the jewel set-
ting ought to have a small groove.
CHAPTER X.
THE FUSEE.
111. In the period of the recoil escapement,
the invention of the fusee was undoubtedly
one of the most important steps towards per-
fection in time-keeping. The old vertical
watch is to such a high degree under the in-
fluence of the variations in the intensity of
the moving power, that it hardly deserves the
name of a time-keeper, if not provided with
a mechanism for equalizing these irregular-
ities. The vertical escapement was super-
seded by the dead beat escapements, espe-
cially the cylinder escapement. One of the
principal features of this latter is, that the
locking and lifting take place at equal dis-
tances from the centre of the balance. The
friction on the locking, therefore, is consider-
able, and acts during the greater part of the
vibration. These circumstances have the
effect that, with any increase of the impulse
power, there is a corresponding increase of
friction at the locking. This friction, it will
be obvious, acts in a corrective way, and if
the proportions of the escapement are well
chosen, it is in a surprisingly small degree in-
fluenced in its time-keeping by any irregular-
ity of the moving power. The duplex escape-
ment works under similar circumstances,
while the detached escapements, which have
no correctional friction, may enjoy the inde-
pendence of their time-keeping only, by a
judicious arrangement of the pendulum
spring.
112. To begin from the time of the clear
establishment of these facts, a rather differ-
ent course was taken by the leading horolo-
gists in the different centres of horological
manufacturing. The French and Swiss, with
their practical endowment, immediately took
advantage of this changed situation, and sim-
plified the movement by dispensing with the
fusee and its appendices. This step, together
with some other circumstances, was the base
268
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
on which the Swiss manufacture largely de-
veloped itself, because, by these means, they
were enabled to produce a cheap watch of
convenient and even delicate dimensions, and
still satisfying the wants of common life.
113. The English, on the contrary, kept to
the traditional fusee movement, even under
so vastly changed conditions ; and even now,
notwithstanding a number of advocates of
the going barrel have sprung up amongst
them in the latest period, the majority still
adhere to the belief that the fusee is an indis-
pensable characteristic of a truly English
watch. The consequence of this conservative
inclination is, a well-maintained superiority
of time-keeping in their better class of
watches, but a gradual decrease of demand
for the inferior qualities, and which, in fact,
have ceased by degrees to be a marketable
article.
114. These are the practical and commer-
cial consequences of the retention and the
omission of the fusee in the modern watch,
as experience has shown them in those two
old manufacturing countries. It is strange
to see that the highly creditable invention of
Graham, that of the cylinder escapement, has
not been a source of much benefit to his
countrymen, merely because they rejected
the idea of coupling its adoption with a re-
modelling of the movement rendered admis-
sible by the nature of the new escapement.
The Swiss, by adopting this latter course,
and by a thorough division of labor, have
succeeded in producing a watch of satisfac-
tory time-keeping quality, marketable by its
price and elegant form and dimensions, and
thus powerfully raised their horological in-
dustry.
115. There can be no doubt that the fusee,
with its equalizing power, insures a greater
uniformity in the rate of a first-class time-
keeping instrument, but the degree of supe-
riority obtained by this means has been vastly
overrated ; and for the wants of common life
there is no difference of any practical impor-
tance between the performance of a fusee
watch and that of a going barrel one. Even if
the difference between the rate in the first
and in the last six hours of spring develop-
ment in a going barrel watch should amount
to ten <or twenty seconds, which is far more
than ever will result from this cause in a
good watch, this would be no impediment to
the watch running a general steady rate, be-
cause the error would repeat itself regularly
in the course of every twenty-four hours, and
it would only require to wind the watch in as
regular a manner as could be afforded.
116. The employment of the going barrel
allows of a stronger train of wheels and pin-
ions, of a more capacious barrel, and of a less
restrained arrangement of the moving parts.
It economizes power by the omission of the
frictional resistance of two large pivots, like
those of the fusee, and it has the great ad-
vantage of not being exposed to as many ac-
cidents as the fusee movement, in which there
is the additional danger of a rupture of the
chain, besides the breaking of the spring.
The going barrel movement, if properly con-
structed, so as to have a thin and long main-?
spring, can be set going with the middle part
of a total development of at least n" ?urns ;
and this main-spring is not so much exposed
to breaking as the thick and short spring of
a barrel in a fusee movement.
117. But the greatest advantage of all is,
that the going barrel movement, with its
greater abundance of moving power, is much
more than the fusee movement appropriate
for a quick train, viz. : — one with 18,000 vibra-
tions in an hour. This quick vibration makes
a watch much more fit for good performance;
especially when worn by persons riding in
carriages or on horseback, or in any other
way exposed to continual external shocks. It
is quite obvious that the much greater mo-
mentum of a balance in such quick vibrations,
will be much less under the influence of such
disturbances, than another balance, vibrating
4- slower. This increased activity of the move-
ment, producing 3,600 more vibrations in an
hour, must, of course, be maintained by a
greater moving power ; and in this point the
fusee movement will be found deficient, if it
has not an excessive height and diameter, or
a very light balance.
118. The consequences of the above con-
siderations may be condensed in the follow-
ing conclusions : —
The employment of the fusee is recom-
mendable for all watches of which the most ac-
curate time-keeping is expected. The going
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
269
barrel ought to be resorted to for all watches
not belonging to this class, and especially for
the use of such wearers as have to rely on a
performance as much as possible free of dis-
turbance; for instance, travellers, soldiers, etc.
119. This point of view was most likely
taken by the first watch manufacturers of the
United States, when they very judiciously
dispensed with the fusee movement, and
which, in my opinion, is a most essential ele-
ment of their success.
120. Having thus exposed the nature of
those cases where the employment of the
fusee may be thought useful, it will perhaps
not be amiss to say a word on the best mode
of constructing a sound and well-proportion-
ed fusee movement. In doing so, I cannot
help stating that the historical English fusee
movement, according to my
way of viewing the matter, is
not a perfect arrangement,
because it is not capable of
contu .^..g a main-spring of a
breadth proportionate to the
height of the frame. This,
as I intend to show by figures
and diagrams, is mainly the
result of the placement of the
centre wheel in those move-
ments. "When I was working
in London, I had some con-
versations about this point
with very good horologists,
but they were quite positive
in dissuading me from at-
tempting any alteration
whatever in the construction
of the fusee movement. I
got up a drawing in which I
could not see any mechanical
defect, and was quite sure of
my plan ; but I had not then the facilities for
carrying it out in practice. This, however, I
did later, and the experiment fully confirmed
my former supposition. In the hope that it
may be useful to some of your readers, I give
a diagram and description of the fusee move-
ment, with comparative figures of its advan-
tages over the English movement.
The greatest alteration in this movement
is, as will be easily seen, the transposition of
the centre wheel from its usual place below
the barrel, to the opposite part of the frame,
above barrel and fusee. The centre wheel
can very conveniently be sunk into an upper
plate of proper thickness, so as to lie flat with
its surface. Then the fusee may come as near
the upper plate as in the English movement.
The barrel cannot pass through the upper
plate, as it does in the usual movements, but
it can reach almost down to the dial, save
only the thickness of its lower bridge. In
the English movement the centre wheel is an
absolute bar to giving any more height to the
fusee and barrel, and all the height of frame
between centre wheel and dial is lost for
these important organs.
For illustrating the advantages to be de-
rived from this arrangement, I give the fol-
lowing comparative sizes : —
Fig. 27.
I have a good English f plate movement,
diameter 44 m. ; the total height of frame is
7.2 m., the height of fusee 3.2 m., and the
height of barrel 2.65 m.
My movement, of the modified disposition,
has a diameter of 46 m. ; its height is also
7.2 m., the height of fusee 3.8 m., and that of
barrel 3.9 m.
The height of frame being equal in both cases,
it will be evident that there is a considerable
advantage in the arrangement I propose: —
270
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
Breadth of
Spring.
3.9 m.
2.65 m.
Height of
Fusee.
In ray movement 3.8 m.
In the English movement 3.2 m.
Difference in favor of the former 0.6 m.
Compared to the English movement, the
construction 'with the centre wheel above
Fig. 28.
1.25 m.
the fusee results in a percental gain in the
height of fusee, of 18.74 per cent., and in the
breadth of spring, of 47.17 per cent.
This latter is an increase of nearly one-half,
and I think it may be considered a most es-
sential improvemement of the fusee move-
ment. From the following description and
drawing, the reader may conclude that this
gain is not bought at the price of any loss
in the solidity of some other part of the
movement.
The third wheel, in a movement of this
kind, must get its place at -the dial side of
the pillar plate, under the fusee wheel. In
all other particulars there is no difference
from the usual position of the acting parts.
121. The respective position of barrel and
fusee in all the English fusee movements is
also irrational, and ought to be inverted.
This latter position of the fusee would save a
considerable amount of friction on the piv-
ots, without a loss or disadvantage on any
other side.
The pressure acting on the pivots of the
fusee in the English movement is, by this de-
fect of construction, the highest attainable
maximum. The diagram, 29, represents the
fusee wheel and centre pinion. In order to
ascertain the pressure on the pivot, it must
be supposed that the point of
contact between the wheel and
pinion at F is the fulcrum of a
lever, on the other end of which
G, the power transmitted by
the chain, is acting. It requires
no proof that the pressure on
the fusee pivot C is equal to
double the power exerted at G.
With the other plan of con-
struction, illustrated by dia-
gram 30, the fulcrum is the
same, at F; the power acts very
near it, and the pressure at the
pivot C will consequently
amount to about \ of the power
exerted at G.
The difference of pressure in
the two cases spoken of is as 8
to 1; and as the friction is in
the ratio of the pressure, the
advantage to be attained by this
modification is considerable,
though it must be remembered that the dif-
Ftg. 29.
ference of pressure in the two cases is in
the ratio of the pressure, the advantage to
be attained by this modification, is consider-
able, though it must be remembered that the
difference of pressure in the two cases is
greatest when the chain acts at the bottom
of the fusee, and diminishes towards the top .
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
271
of it ; but even there it will be about as 4
tol.
Fio. 30.
It is surprising that this arrangement, the
advantage of which is beyond any doubt, and
which is due to Julian Leroy, has not found
any followers in England, the country of the
fusee movement. It has been employed so
much the more by French and German
makers.
i ALLOYS OF GOLD.
In the "preceding article it was suggested
that the discrepancies existing in the abso-
lute qualities of gold goods— all asserted to
be the same quality — might occur from the
loose method of compounding them ; very
few melters being absolutely sure of the rela-
tive quantities and fineness of the metals from
which they are compounded. When pure
metals only are used there is no possible ex-
cuse for error ; and if there be one, it should
be christened with a more harsh name; cheat,
swindle, or deception being a better word to
use.
If ten pounds, ounces, pennyweights or
grains, of chemically pure gold be melted
with fourteen pounds, ounces, dwt., or grains,
of some other metal, it will produce 10 k.
alloy for a certainty. But if 10 dwt. of gold
coin be melted with 14 dwt. of some other
metal it will not make 10 k. alloy, because the
gold coin is not 24 k. fine. Many manufac-
turers have taken the unwarranted liberty
of calling an alloy 18 k. which is made up of
18 parts coin and 6 parts base metaL
When alloys of various qualities are com-
pounded with each other, the resulting mix-
ture is a little more complex. For instance,
melt together —
11 oz. gold 23 k. fine.
8 " 214 "
6 " ' 24 ",
2 " base metal.
The resulting quality is easily found by mul-
tiplying
11
8
G
2
oz.
X 23 =
X 214 =
X24 =
X o =
27
oz.
567
253
170
144
00
567 k."
— =- = 21 k. for the quality of the mass.
27
The complication increases somewhat when
it is desired to produce an alloy of 18 k. from
alloys of several different qualities, say 12 k.,
22 k., 15 k., 20 k.; then it becomes necessary
to know exactly the quantity of each to be
taken to produce the required quality. The
rules simply will be given without going into
explanation of the " reasons for the rules."
Write down the statement of the problem in
this form.
12 J 4
15 } 2
20 s 3
22 1 6
18 k.
Link, by a line, any quality of alloy greater
than the desired quality to one that is less,
and set the difference between the given
quality and the quality sought opposite the
number to which it is linked, and it will show
you at once the quantity to be taken of each
kind to produce the 18 k. desired. In proof
that the result is correct we have
4 dwt. X 12 k. =
2 " X 15 k. =
3 " X 20 k. =
6 " X 22 k. =
48
30
60
132
15 dwt. 270 k.
270 -~ 15 = 18 k. the quality sought.
The formula may be varied without affect-
ing the truth of the result, as
18 k.
2 X 12 =
4 x 15 =
6 x 20 =
3 x 22 =
24 1
60
120
66
270
15
Suppose you have gold 17 k., 18 k., 22 k.,
and wish to produce an alloy of 2 1 k. fine.
17 \ .... x 1=.... 171 189
21k. 18 ~, .... x 1=.... 18|-= — =21 k.
22 L (4+3)x7= .... 154 j 9
9 189
Again with some pure gold and some of 12k.,
272
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
16 k., 17 k. and 22 k., you wish to produce
18 k.
12 \ 4 X 12= 481
16 — > 6x16= 96 | 450
18 17 6X17= 102 J- = 18k.
2-2 I 6 X 22 = 132 | 25
24 J 2 + 1 = 3x24= 72 J
25 450
With a little practice there is no difficulty
in reaching correct results. The problem
becomes more complicated when any one of
the ingredients is limited. For example, you
have 10 dwt. 18 k. gold, some 16 k., 20 k., and
22 k. ; you wish to know how much fine gold
you must add to bring the alloy up to 22 k.
fine.
16 l 2x16= 32]
18 ~~j (10 dwt).... 2x18= 36 | 440
22 20 1 2x20=40}- — =22k
22 < 2 x 22= 44 I 20
24__njj6+44-2-f0 =12 x 24=288 J
20 410
This gives you the quantity of each of the
various kinds to produce 22 k. Now there is
10 dwt. of the 18 k., and the same proportion
must be taken of each of the other qualities.
Then as the difference against that quality whose
quantity is limited, is to each of the other differ-
ences, so is the quantity of that to the quantity
required of each of the others, thus:
2
2 :
: 10
10
'2
2 :
: io
10
2
12 :
: io
60
Consequently the ingredients will be,
10 dwt. 16 k. (proof) 10 X 16 = 160
10 " 18k. 10X18= 180
10 " 20k 10x20= 200
t>0 " 24 k 60x24 = 1440
i 0 dwt
1980 k.
Often two or more of the ingredients will
be limited in quantity, — as how much gold
of 11 and 16 k. must be melted with 6 dwt. of
19 k., and 12 dwt. of 22 k., to produce an al-
loy of 20 k. fine ?
First find what will be the quality of a mix-
ture made of the given quantities of the
given ingredients. In the case given these
are,
6 dwt. 19 k. = 114 k.
12 dwt 22 k. = 264 k.
(
378
= = 21 K. fine.
( 18
From which the quantity of 14 and 16 k. can
be found as previously shown.
20
14
~"»
1
16
21
1
Proof 1.8 dwt. 14k. = .,
1.8 " 16 k. = .,
6 " 19 k. = .
12 " 22 k. = .
The proportions are there found as in
10:1: : 18 (sum of the given quantities) : 1.8,
the quantity required of the 14 and 16 k.
.. 25 2]432
" 114' Si" ^20k
.. 264.0 J *iA
Another case will often occur, when it is
desired to produce a certain quantity of a
given quality from various ingredients. Hav-
ing gold 15 k., 17 k., 20 k., 22 k., you wish to
melt up 40 dwt. of 18 k.
First find how much of each of these quali-
ties are required to produce 18 k.
18
Then as the sum of all the ingredients is to
the required quantity, so is the quantity of
each of the ingredients found to the quantity
required. Thus
10
40 :
: 4
16 of 15 k.
10
40 :
: 2
8 " 17 k.
10
: 40 :
: l
4 " 20 k.
10
40 :
: 3
12 " 22 k.
Or the proportions can be varied, and the
result will be the same ; thus,
18
15 ) 2 which will give 8 dwt 15 k.
17 .4 " " 16 " 17 k.
20 I 3 " " 12 " 20 k.
22 il " " 4 " 22 k.
From these illustrative examples, no one
need be at a loss to readily figure out any
combination of qualities and quantities with
mathematical certainty.
Gold will unite with nearly, if not quite, all
the metals, making alloys of more or less use-
fulness. Gold has a strong affinity for iron,
and unites readily with it and with steel ; 8
per cent, iron is a pale yellow-gray color, very
ductile and tenacious, and harder than gold,
15 to 20 per cent, iron has a gray color, and
takes a beautiful polish. 75 to 80 per cent,
iron is so hard as to be very well adapted for
cutting instruments, and is nearly the color
of silver.
Copper, also, sustains most friendly rela-
tions with gold, freely uniting in any propor-
tion. A very little sensibly alters the color of
gold, and almost any desired color may
be obtained by skilfully admixing copper
and silver. The maximum hardness of cop-
per and gold alloy is attained by the use of \
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
273
copper. All gold alloys are more fusible than
pure gold.
Silver and gold also unite in all propor-
tions, the maximum hardness being attained
with £ silver.
The green gold of jewellers is 70.8 gold and
29.2 silver. To deepen the color of gold and
silver alloy, the following composition is
sometimes used :
1 oz. yellow wax.
2 " calcined alum.
12 " red chalk.
2 '• verdigris.
2 ' ' peroxide of copper.
All the ingredients except the wax must
be ground to an impalpable powder, and
mixed with the melted wax, moulded while
plastic into sticks like sealing-wax. The sur-
face of the gold to be darkened is rubbed
over with the mixture, and heated till the wax
be all burned off — then wash the article in a
liquor ;
1 pint water.
2 oz. ashes of calcined crude tartar.
2 " common salt.
i " sulphur.
If designed to be bright, it must be bur-
nished— not polished.
Manganese 1 part, and gold 88 parts, form
a pale, yellow-gray alloy of considerable lustre
and hardness, but little ductility.
Nickel and gold produce an alloy of brass-
yellow color, quite brittle.
Cobalt and gold unite, forxing a dull yel-
low brittle alloy.
Antimony unites with gold, but the most
minute quantity entirely destroys its duc-
tility.
Tin and gold form a compound more fusi-
ble than gold, and is somewhat ductile when
cold, but easily crumbles at a red heat.
Zinc in very small quantities renders gold
brittle. Melted gold will absorb sufficient of
the vapor of zinc to render it brittle.
Lead in any quantity as minute as juoVoo
will impair the ductility of gold.
The vapor of arsenic, in contact with heat-
ed gold, renders it brittle; and the minute
quantity so absorbed cannot be separated,
even at a very high temperature.
Such facts go to show most conclusively
that the slovenly, careless manner of handling
and melting gold, in many shops, is the cause
of the great difficulty experienced in getting
gold to work. The smallest particle of zinc,
lead, tin, antimony or bismuth, creeping in ac-
cidentally with a lot of old gold, and going into
the crucible, will make long hours of painful
labor, and perhaps never be eliminated, ex-
cept by refining. Inquiries come in public
and private from all quarters, for instruction
how to make brittle gold " work." In nine-
tenths of the cases, more or less of these base
metals are in the bar and refuse to vacate ;
they wont be entirely burned out, nor will
they leave by rolling and remelting and flux-
ing ; sometimes, by persistent means of this
sort (depending on what the obnoxious metal
is) they are diminished to such an infinitesi-
mal quantity that the artisan is able to get it
to work. All such stuff had better be sent at
once to the refiner; get pure metals, alloy
them properly and carefully, and such troubles
will seldom vex you.
REMINISCENCES OF AN APPRENTICE.
MAKING PINS.
I was not a precocious boy, and was slow
to learn anything good ; still the solicitude
of earnest parents and the labors of faithful
schoolmasters, which were sometimes of a
decidedly physical nature, instilled or devel-
oped something within me, and the day I left
school I chanced to be at the head of every
class that I was learning in. However, this
circumstance may be partly explained by the
fact, that although the school was a large one,
I was the only pupil in some of the classes.
The minds of the boys in our town wan-
dered mostly on a seafaring life, but my
father and the leading watchmaker of the
town arranged that I should go and be a
watchmaker. The watchmaker wanted an
apprentice and my parents desired to see me
learn a respectable trade and be at home.
At first, when it was proposed to me that
I should learn to be a watchmaker, I did not
care much about it ; I wanted to go to sea ;
but after a time I was persuaded to give the
watchmaker's place a trial, and I was taken
down to " our maister " and duly installed as
his apprentice. I certainly thought "our
maister " to be the most wonderful of men.
274
AMEBICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
He could turn brass and steel into beauti-
ful shapes in the lathe, and make the chips
fly off as easy as I could cut wood with my
knife. He could bore a hole in a piece of iron
as quick as the blacksmith could do by heat-
ing it and driving a punch through it, and he
could even saw a piece of brass or iron in two
with the same ease as a carpenter could saw
a piece of wood.
" Our maister " commenced operations on
me by trying to initiate me into the mysteries
of making iron pins for clocks ; but, although
it was pins that I was making ostensibly, the
real object was to learn me to turn the hand-
vice regularly, and file articles round. The
ordeal that I went through in mastering the
operation, I can never forget ; and probably
"our maister" never will either. First of all,
I was too little and could not reach up to the
bench ; but " our maister" got a stool made
for me which raised me high enough, and it
suited very well, except when I stood too near
the end of it, it would fly up and I would
tumble down.
In making pins, I had first to cut the wire
into lengths all the same, then they had to
be straightened with a hammer ; and al-
though the wire had to be filed all over, " our
maister" would not allow a deep hammer
mark to be seen in the wire, and it had to be
made so straight that you might twirl it
round in your fingers without seeing it move.
The wire was held in a hand-vice in the one
hand, and the file worked with the other. I
had to lay the hand-vice in the palm of my
left hand and catch it with my fingers a little
above the middle, lay the wire on the wooden
block, and turn my hand backward and for-
ward, and in twisting the hand-vice forward
I had to let it slip round in my hand a little
each time. Then, with my right hand, I had
to hold the file and press on it with my fore-
finger. I had to push the file slowly from
me at the same time that I turned the hand-
vice towards me, and while I had to press
hard on the file in pushing it from me, I had
to pull it back without any pressure, and I
had to push it out and in perfectly straight ;
and all the^e things " our maister " insisted
on my doing without any deviation whatever
from his established modes of procedure. I
tried my best, but made but little progress
at anything, except tumbling off the stool,
and bruising my fingers. Making pins seem-
ed little less than persecution to me, and
sometimes, when " our maister '' would be
displeased with the manner I was handling
the tools, and when he would come to show
me the right way, if the wire would slip from
the block, as sometimes it would, I felt a
savage delight at seeing " our maister ''
knock his fingers up against the vice or the
block, which was an inward pleasure to me
at the time that compensated for a whole
week of making pins, although now I am
sorry that ever he hurt his fingers on my
account. After many weeks' labor, with but
little intermission, I could turn the hand-vice
and handle the file to please him, and the
pins I made were round and of a gradual
taper ; but my troubles were not yet at an
end as I thought they were, for I had to learn
to smooth-file, draw-file, and burnish them.
This was not so difficult to learn, although
they had to be burnished with an oval bur-
nisher till they looked like silver ; yet, in
small pins, this was not a matter of much dif-
ficulty to me, except that I very frequently
pricked my fingers with the pins.
At length, after all the coils of iron wire in
our town, as I thought, were exhausted, I
was put to making brass pins for watches.
After the severe drilling I had got in learn-
ing to make the larger iron ones, I found
making watch pins a comparatively easy mat-
ter. I soon learned to turn the pin-vice
with my finger and thumb in a regular man-
ner, and although I could never do it as well
as " our maister " could, I did it to please
him, and that was about as much as, at that
time, I cared about.
I now think the same as " our maister ''
did, that it is a great acquisition to a work-
man to be able to make pins as they ought
to be made. The pin itself is of greater im-
portance than is often attached to it; besides,
the ability to turn the hand-vice regularly is
a great advantage in doing other work neces-
sary to be done about a jobbing watchmaker's
bench. Apprentices, learn to make pins!
I do not wish to persecute you, but you will
never regret it if you learn to make pins
thoroughly, although you do begin with large
ones first.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
275
THE PENDULUM
A3 APPLIED TO THB
MEASUREMENT OF TIME
NUMBER FOUR.
DEAT-3EAT ESCAPEMENTS — GRAHAM'S — ANCIENT AND
MODERN METHODS OF DRAWING IT OFF — DRAW-
ING OFF SO AS TO HAVE A REC.'HL — LE PAUTE's,
OR THE PIN-WHEEL ESCAPEMENT — COMPARISON
BETWEEN IT AND GR\HAM's DIFFERENT
METHODS OF JEWELLING AND ADJUSTING —
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON DEAD-BEAT ES-
CAPEMENTS, ETC.
There are two classes of dead-beat escape-
ments used in clock-work where the pendulum
receives its impulse direct from the weight or
Fig. 1.
- - ;. -.".-; :.-■■■ •,.'-_
.
■ -.
■■;-■'■.- -■:.- .--..• I .
■'- '-• '"-'■. .■■: ■ ■' ■, ■..■
mSSmM
.■'■■' ';-:"■■: '■ ■ " ■
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spring. The one form is known as Graham's
invention, and the other as Le Paute's, or
the pin-wheel escapement. In the journals
and magazines published about the middle
of the last century, we find considerable dis-
cussion on the subject of the priority of in-
vention, and the various merits of the two
systems. From these discussions it appears
that Graham had one of his escapements
applied to a clock before the year 1720 ; and
on French authority it is asserted that the
escapement made by Clement, which we
noticed in the last number of the Journal,
was a dead-beat one. "We can find no trace
or mention nvide of Le Paute's escapement
till about thirty years after Graham's was
put in operation, and other two French
gentlemen, named Biesta and Caron, claim
to have invented the pin-wheel escapement,
while, on modern authority, it is also claimed
for Whitehurst, of Derby, England.
Figure 1 is an exact and full-sized re-
presentation of Graham's escapement, as it
was originally made by Mr. John
Shelton, who was employed by
Graham for that purpose, and
the following is his description
of its action, and his method of
drawing it off : " The tooth c
having just escaped from the
pallet, a, the opposite pallet in-
stantly receives the full shock
of the tooth b on its circular
arc ; and the vibration proceed-
ing, this pallet enters deep be-
tween the teeth, but not so far
as to touch the bottom, the
swing (scape) wheel and second-
hand remaining motionless till,
by the succeeding vibration, the
tooth b is brought to the edge
of the inclined plane of its pal-
let, at which instant it begins to
act, pushing away the pallet till
it escapes at the lower point,
whenimmediately another tooth,
striking on the circular part of
the other pallet, rides at rest
upon it till the inclined plane
begins to present itself, and
then following the slope of the
pallet, pushes it away, and at
last escapes, as did the first tooth c ; and
so on."
This is the rule that was employed for
drawing this escapement off : " Describe a
circle, whose diameter is that of the intended
swing (scape) wheel, and through its centre
z7o
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
draw a perpendicular or vertical line, pro-
longed afterwards ; then if the number of
teeth in the swing (scape) wheel be thirty,
as in clocks vibrating seconds, set off on the
circle on either side the vertical point (from
an exact line of chords) an arc of G9°, the
double whereof, 138°, is the exact space taken
up by eleven teeth and one-half, on the same
circumference. From the centre of the circle
to the points of 69° draw radii, and on their
extremities erect perpendiculars, whose inter-
section in the vertical line will be the centre
of motion of the anchor represented in the
figure; the circle passing through the ex-
treme points of the teeth of the wheel, shown
also in the figure. From the centre of motion,
through the points of G9°, draw a circular
T"io. 2.
arc, with which that part of each pallet of
the anchor, which receives the last scaped
tooth, and keeps the second-hand from re-
coiling, must coincide, as the figure shows ;
lastly, the inclined planes of the pallets must
make an angle of about 60° with lines drawn
from the centre of the wheel to their obtuse
terminations." Such was the first method
that was used for constructing the Graham
escapement, and the rule has been followed
to a certain degree ever since, but modified
somewhat according to the notions of the
workmen who used it.
It is quite a common thing for some work-
men to imagine that in making an escape-
ment, the pallets ought to embrace or take
in a given number of teeth, and that number
which they suppose to be right must not be
departed from ; but there seems to be no rule
that necessarily prescribes any number of
teeth to be used arbitrarily. The nearer that
the centre of motion of the pallets is to the
centre of the scape-wheel, the less will be the
number of teeth that will be embraced by the
pallets. Figure 2 is an illustration of the
distance between the centre of motion of the
pallets and the centre of the wheel required
for 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 teeth in a wheel of the
same size as the circle ; but although we
have adopted these numbers so as to make a
symmetrical diagram, any other numbers that
may be desirable can be used with equal pro-
priety. All that is necessary to be done
to find the proper<centre of motion of
the pallets is first to determine the num-
ber of teeth that are to be embraced,
and draw lines from the points of the
outside ones of the number to the centre
of the wheel, and at right angles to these
lines draw other two lines, and the point
where they intersect each other will be
the centre of motion of the pallets.
It will be seen by the diagram (No. 2)
that by this method the distance be-
tween the centres of motion of the pal-
lets and that of the scape-wheel is equal
to the diameter of the scape-wheel, when
eleven and one-half teeth are to be em-
braced, and that the distance is much
shorter than that obtained by the Gra-
ham method of making his own escape-
ment. This shortness may be imagined
by some to be objectionable, on the supposi-
tion that it will take a heavier weight to drive
the clock ; but it can easily be shown that
this objection is altogether imaginary, with
no reality in it. If the distance between the
centres is very long, as in Graham's plan, the
value of the impulse received from the scape -
wheel, .and communicated through the pallets
to the pendulum, is no doubt greater; for, the
arms being long, the leverage is greater ; yet
we must not suppose that from this fact the
clock will go with less weight, for it is easy
to see that the longer the pallet-arms, are the
greater will be the distance the teeth of the
scape-wheel will have to move on the circular
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
277
part of the pallets. The extra amount of
friction, and the consequent extra amount of
resistance offered to the pendulum, caused by
the extra distance the points of the teeth
run on the circular part of the pallets and
back again, destroys all the value of the extra
amount of impulse given to the pendulum, in
the first instance, by means of the long arms
of the pallets. It is for this reason that
moderately short arms are used in clocks
having dead-beat escapements of modern
construction. Some of the first-class London
makers of astronomical clocks only embrace
eight and one-half teeth, with the centres of
motion of the pallets and scape-wheel pro-
portionably nearer.
Figure 3 shows a modern method of draw-
ing off a Graham escapement. A is the
Fig. 3.
wheel, and B is the centre of motion of the
pallets, which point is found in the way
shown in Figure 2 ; D D is a circle that has
its centre at B, and C C is also a circle having
its centre at the same point. The circle D D
determines the angle that has to be given to
the scape-wheel teeth, which must be under-
cut a little, so that the points of the teeth
will only rub on the circle D on the one side,
and C on the other. The faces and backs of
the teeth are tangents to the circles I and J.
The diameters of these circles are not arbi-
trary, but may be of any size to suit the par-
ticular angle required for the teeth. F F are
dotted lines, drawn from B, so as just to
touch the points of the teeth E E, and the
dotted lines G G are drawn at an angle a
short distance from F F, the one nearer to
the centre of the wheel, and the other farther
from the centre. The distance between the
circular lines D and C determine the thick-
ness of the acting faces of the pallets, which
ought to be just a trifle less than half the
space between the points of the teeth. The
distance between the lines F and G deter-
mines the length of the angle of the impulse
planes of the pallets H H. These planes
begin at the one line and end at the other ;
consequently the length of the vibrations in-
tended to be given to the pendulum are regu-
lated accordingly. For example, if
it be desired that the angle of
escape should be one degree, or
that the bottom of the pendulum
should move one degree from the
point of rest before the teeth of the
escape-wheel escapes, then the dis-
tance between the lines G and F
must also be one degree of a circle,
whose radius is B F, and the im-
pulse angles drawn as the distance
between these indicates.
It will be observable that the
modern Graham escapement differs
from the original one in this par-
ticular, that the arms of the pallets
are of unequal length. Figure 1
shows that the acting faces of the
pallets are on the same circle ;
while in Figure 3, the acting faces
of the pallets are circles of two dif-
ferent diameters, and, consequently,
one pallet-arm is the thickness of the pallet
longer or shorter than the other. This dis-
crepancy is, however, considered to be of no
practical disadvantage, as at first sight it
would appear to be; for, although the value of
the leverage may be different in the one arm
from that of the other, the difference is
always constantly the same, and on that ac-
count it exercises no pernicious effects on the
regularity of the pendulum, more than is
exercised when the arms are exactly the same
length.
278
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
Figure 4 represents a style of pallets much
used in French clocks that have short pen-
dulums, and the same principle is likewise
Fig. 4.
employed with great advantage in various
descriptions of British clock-work with long
as well as with short pendulums. It may be
termed a half dead-beat, for while it has the
impulse planes of the
dead-beat, it has also a
little recoil. This escape-
ment is well adapted for
all kinds of clock-work
that is to be placed in
situations where they are
likely to be neglected, or
where the motive power
is limited, and when that
power is liable from any
cause to vary. It differs
in nothing from the dead-
beat except that the act-
ing parts of the pallets,
instead of being a true
circle, are shaped so as
to produce a slight recoil
of the scape-wheel. 'The
distance between the
centres of motion of the
pallets and scape-wheel
is determined by the
same method as shown in
Figure 2, and the acting
faces of the pallets by
the same method as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows the method practised in
drawing off both the dead-beat and re-
coiling escapements. A is the centre of
motion of the pallets, and the lines Iv and L
are a circle that has its centre at A. The
dotted lines I H and F G are to determine
the angle of the impulse planes, the same as
shown in Figure 3. The line C is a circle
that has its centre at J, and the line B is one
that has its centre at E. Therefore, it will
be noticed that instead of the tooth of the
wheel working on the circle K L, it works
against the circles C and B, and a recoil is
thereby produced. The amount of recoil is
determined by the different positions the
points E and J may occupy. These points
can only be determined by some obtuse
trigonometrical calculations, which we deem
to be inexpedient to introduce here. In the
meantime it may be an incentive to some of
our young readers to study the subject, and
when the present series of articles are com-
pleted we may give a more elaborate notice
of this particular subject.
Figure 5 represents a view of the Le Paute,
Fig. 5. P-
or the pin-wheel escapement, as it was
originally made. The wheel had 60 pins set
on its sides, 30 on each side, and the pallet-
arms were placed a short distance apart, and
the wheel worked between them. I and L
are the acting faces of the pallets, which are
a true circle, the centre of which is F. The
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
279
wheel, as shown in the drawing, is supposed i
to be turning towards the right, while the •
pins strike both the pallets downwards ; j
whereas in Graham's escapement, the one
pallet is struck upward and the other down-
ward. The impulse is given to the pendulum
by inclined planes, in the same manner as in
Graham's. The main object Le Paute and
his contemporaries had in view in construct-
ing this escapement was to have the acting
faces of the pallets a circle of exactly the
same radius, and the impulse-planes levers of
the same length that would give an equal
impulse to the pendulum at each alternate
beat, and thereby contribute to the regu-
larity of the vibrations of the pendulum. We
have already noticed that while the system
of making the arms of the pallets levers of
the same length is entirely harmless, and
quite a plausible theory, the advantages
gained are not of that high benefit one at the
first would suppose.
The modern method of constructing the
pin- wheel escapement is to place the pallets
perpendicular with the outer edge of the wheel,
to have only one set of pins, and to have them
made of hard brass, while both pallets work
on the same side of the wheel, and the one
pallet-arm is about the thickness of a pin
shorter than the other. When the pins are
cut away, so as to form half cylinders, with
the flat sides in a line with the centre of the
wheel, an escapement can be made in this
way with very little lost drop. It seems
curious that, while the originators of the pin-
wheel escapement were so very particular
about having the pallet-arms levers of the
same length, so as to give an equal impulse
to the pendulum, they should lose sight of
the effects of placing the pallets at the angle
represented in the diagram. It seems that,
although the pallets were constructed to give
an equal impulse to the pendulum, the
weight and pressure of the pallets, working
in that position, would destroy all the ad-
vantages supposed to be gained ; because,
when the pendulum moves in one direction,
it has the pallets to lift up, and when it
moves in the other, the weight of the pallets
press on the pendulum, which amounts
practically to the same thing as the unequal
impulse they studied so much to avoid.
Sometimes what are known from their ap-
pearance as club-shaped teeth are used in
the wheels of Graham's escapements. Figure
6 represents their outline. Pendulums re-
ceive their impulse from escapements made
in this manner partly from the pallets, and
partly from the scape-wheel. The advantage
gained by this system is, that wheels made
in this way will work with the least possible
drop, and, consequently, power is saved ; but
the power saved is thrown away again in the
Fig. 6.
increased friction of the wheel against the
pallets, which is considerably more than
when plain-pointed teeth are used.
Clock pallets are usually made of steel, and
jewels set into them, after the same fashion
as jewels in steel pallets in a lever watch ;
but it is obvious that pallets made in this
way have to be finished with polishers held
in the hand, and that they cannot be made
so perfectly regular, especially that pallet
that is struck downwards, as the particular
action of a Graham escapement requires.
When great accuracy is required, the pallets
are usually made of separate pieces, and the
acting circles ground and polished on laps,
running in the lathe, that have been made
for the purpose. This method of construct-
ing pallets also allows a means of adjust-
ment, which in some particular instances is
very convenient.
Figure 7 shows a plan of making jewelled
pallets adjustable, which is practised in
London, and also in the United States. The
pallet frames consist of two pieces of thin
hard sheet brass, cut out as shown in the
diagram. Circular grooves are cut in the
sides of both plates, at the proper distance,
and of the proper size, to receive the jewels
marked 1 1, which are the acting part of the
pallets. When jewels cannot be made that
size, pieces of steel are made, and jewels set
280
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
into the steel large enough for the wheel to
act upon. The two frames are fastened at a
given distance apart, and the two jewels, or
pieces of steel, go in between them, and, after
thej- hare been adjusted to the proper posi-
tion, are fastened tight by screws that pull
the frames close together and press against
tlie edges of the jewels. Pallets made in this
manner have a very elegant appearance.
Another method is to have only one frame,
Fig. 7.
and to have it thick enough, where the jewels
have to be set in, to allow a groove to be cut
in its side as deep as the jewels, or the pieces
of steel that hold the jewels, are broad, and
which are held in their proper position by
screws. This is the system of jewelling pal-
lets adopted by the Altona cloekmakers,
and many others on the continent of Europe
and elsewhere.
Fig. 8.
Figure 8 represents a system of making
and jewelling pallets much used by the
French in their small work. The acting part
of the pallets are simply cylinders, the one
half of each being cut away. These cylinders
extend some distance from the front of the
pallet frames, and Work into the wheel the
same as the action of a Graham escapement
— the round part of the pallets serving as
impulse planes. The neck of the brass frame
is cut up in the centre, and the width be-
tween the pallets is adjusted by a screw, as is
shown in the diagram.
In adjusting an escapement, perhaps it
may be advisable to mention that moving the
pallets closer together, or opening them
wider, will only adjust the drop on the one
side, while the other drop can only be affect-
ed by altering the distance between the
centres of the pallets and scape-wheel. This
is accomplished in various ways. Figure 9
shows the French method, which consists of
Fig. 9.
Fig. 10.
an encentric bush, riveted in the frame just
tight enough to be turned by a screw-driver.
Figure 10 shows another plan, which is
simply pieces of brass fastened on the inside
of the frames. The pivots of the pallet axis
work in holes in these pieces, and an adjust-
ment of great accuracy is obtained by means
of screws. However, we do not approve of
adjustments of any kind, except in the very
highest class of clocks, where they are always
likely to be under the care of skilful people,
who understand how to use the adjustments
to obtain nicety of action in the various
parts.
In making escapements, lightness of all the
parts ought to be an object always in view
in the mind of the workman, and such ma-
terials should be used as will best serve that
purpose. The scape-wheel, and the pallets
and back-fork, should have no more metal in
them than what is necessary for strength or
stiffness. The axis of the pallets, and also
the axis of the scape-wheel, should be left
pretty thick when the wheel and pallets are
placed in the centre of the frame. "We have
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
281
often been puzzled to find out the necessity
or the utility of placing them in the centre
between the frames, as they are so generally
done in English clock-work. The escape-
ment acts much firmer placed near to one of
the frames, and it is just as easy to execute
it in this way as in the other.
It is often assumed that the friction of the
teeth on the circular part of the pallets of
a dead-beat escapement is small in amount,
and unimportant in its value. "With respect
to its amount, we believe it is often not far
short of being equal to the combined retard-
ing forces presented to the pendulum inde-
pendent of that of the escapement ; and with
respect to its being unimportant, this as-
sumption is founded on the supposition that
it is always a uniform force, when it is easy
to show that it is not a uniform force. It is
very well known that the force transmitted
in clock trains, from each wheel to the next,
is very far from constant. Small defects in
the forms of the teeth of the wheels and of
the leaves of the pinions, and also in the
depths to which they are set into each other,
cause irregularity in the force transmitted
from each wheel to the next ; and the acci-
dental combination of these irregularities, in
a train of four or five wheels, makes the force
transmitted from the first to the last exceed-
ingly variable. The wearing of the parts,
and the change in the state of the oil, are
causes of further irregularities ; ■ and, from
these causes, it must be admitted that the
moving force of the scape-wheel is of a varia-
ble quality, and a more important question
for consideration than it is usually supposed
to be. To avoid the consequences of this
irregular pressure of the scape-wheel on
the pallets being communicated to the pendu-
lum, is a problem that has puzzled skilful
mechanicians for many years ; for, although
we find the Graham escapement to be pro-
nounced both theoretically and mechanically
correct, and by some authorities little short
of perfection, we find some of these same
authorities— both theoretically and practi-
cally— testify their dissatisfaction with it by
endeavoring to improve on it. In Europe
the experience of generations, and the ex-
penditure of small fortunes, in pursuit of
this improvement, through the agency of
gravity, and other forms of escapaments,
proves this fact ; while of late years, in the
United States, much time and money has
been spent on the same subject, and results
have been reached which have raised ques-
tions that ten years ago were little dreamed
of by those clockmakers who are generally
engaged on the highest class of work.
While considering this class of escape-
ments, we would say a few words in regard
to the size of escape-wheels generally used.
We can see no reason or necessity for con-
tinuing the use of a wheel the size Graham
and Le Paute used, and which has been the
size generally adopted by most makers who
use these escapements with but few excep-
tions. The Altona clockmakers, and those
who follow that school, make wheels much
smaller for Graham escapements than the
London makers do ; while the Boston clock-
makers make them smaller still. On the
continent of Europe the wheels of Le Paute's
escapement are made much larger than they
are made in England and in the United
States. No wheel, and more especially a
scape-wheel, should be larger than will just
give sufficient strength for the number of
teeth it has to contain, in proportion to the
amount of work that it has to perform. The
amount of work a scape-wheel has to perform
in giving motion to the pendulum is of the
lightest description, and not more than one-
tenth of what it is popularly supposed to be ;
therefore we do not consider that we take
extreme ground in recommending wheels for
these escapements to be made one-half the
size their originators made them, and the
pallets drawn off in proportion to the reduced
size of the wheel. It is plain that by re-
ducing the size of the wheel its inertia will
be reduced, and the same effect will be pro-
duced by making the teeth the shape shown
in Figure 3, in preference to those shown in
Figure 1, because they are lighter, while they
both are of equal strength. When the teeth
begin to act on the inclined planes of the
pallets, the wheel will be set in motion with
greater ease, and the amount of the dead
friction of the scape-wheel teeth on the in-
clined planes and circular part of the pallets
will also be proportionably reduced by
making the wheel smaller.
282
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
k MONOGRAMMATIC ART.
The art of pleasing, caught from the thou-
sand fancies of loving hearts to adorn the ob-
ject of its devotion, and to dwell on the cher-
ished name, finds its most beautiful exponent
in the monogrammatic art. The fancy is as
ancient as letters. Some of the oldest monu-
ments of history exhibit these pleasant
conceits of designing, and the rubrics and
missals of the mediaeval age, with their monk-
ish illuminations, still present some of the
marvels of tasteful and elaborate designing by
hands that seemed only to strive how long
they could employ themselves on a word or
letter. The idea is involved in the composi-
tion of the word monos, single, and gramma,
being a design, cipher, or character, inwoven
as one letter, or monogram. They were used
on coins, standards, seals, coats- of-arms, and
tapestries in ancient times, and later, as
signatures by princes, ecclesiastics, notaries,
etc. Plutarch mentions them, and many
Greek medals show them in the time of
Philip of Macedon, and Alexander the Great.
As a key to the monuments and. documents
of the middle ages, the knowledge of the
subject is important, and forms a part of a
diplomatic education. The art was kept
alive by the artists and engravers, and even
now continues in their hands. The ancient art
was beautifully illustrated in Montfaucon's
"Paleogra^phie Grecque," and an elaborate Ger-
man work was published in 1747, by John
Fr. Christ. BrouilloWs "Dictionnaire des Mono-
grammes," a celebrated work, was published
in Munich in 1820, and this is the latest
special work on the subject until the pre-
sent.
The general considerations to be observed
in monogrammatic designing is to mingle
clearness and obscurity, involving and impli-
cating the general design, while the elements
are clear and obvious, when unlocked by the
key. The surname initial demands a spe-
cial prominence, and there is no other limi-
tation but the ingenuity and patience of the
artist. Different grounding or tinting of each
letter gives distinctness to the combination ;
but this is not always essential except to pre-
vent confusion. The scrip letter and the Gothic
are still the most available for the best ideas,
from their curves and points, and flowing
lines, and yet a fancy rendering of the Roman
and block letter produces some most attrac-
tive fancies. The art of seal engraving has
always required the monogram since the de-
cline of heraldic devices. Even now some of
the best artists in this branch are the French,
English, and American seal engravers and
lapidaries. Recent fashions in jewelry give
to the monogram the prominent feature in
designing, and lockets especially present the
finest tablets for the most elaborate work.
The brooch, the sleeve-button, and the ear-
ring, are also thus designed, and some ex-
ceedingly beautiful work is made by engrav-
ing the monogram only, clear, out of sheet
gold, finishing the edges. Any round, square,
oval, or tablet form, and particularly the
escutcheon figure, are the best grounds for
engraved, enameled, embossed, or applied
profiled designs. A beautiful fancy vest but-
ton is also a popular idea.
For jewellers, engravers, and lapidaries, a
work has just appeared, which, without a
word of text or introduction, exhibits a col-
lection of exquisitely beautiful designs. The
work is published by J. Sabin & Sons, 84
Nassau street, New York. Over 1,000 de-
signs cover the whole field of alphabet, and
two and three letter designs, and many of
whole names and mottoes, on the same plan.
As the work of some of the best native artists,
as well as of some of the most select foreign
designs, it deserves the notice of the curious
and the artistic. It will prove an unfailing
resource to the manufacturing jeweller and
the engraver, as well as the students of the
beautiful. To unravel some of these intri-
cate subjects is really a pastime to a refined
taste. There is always a kind of pleasure in
unfolding a perplexity, and some of the
elaborate ingenuities of the better class of
monograms really demand an accomplished
eye and experienced taste.
Doubling, and reversing, and inverting let-
ters, increases the perplexity, and improves
the general outline, for the best designs are
those which make an even and harmonious
outline figure. As diversions, these fancies
have always been popular with artists, for
their breadth of scope for quaint fancies.
The most difficulty lies in making a selection
A T
A T
A T
A U
A V A V
A W
A X
A Y
A Z
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
283
from a number of conceits, each of -which
seems more beautiful and unique than all
the rest.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
S. E. F., Pa. — You are wrong in this re-
spect. Tou cannot take more power out of
any machine than you put into it. A watch,
to go a week, must have a spring seven times
stronger than one that goes twenty-four
hours with the same number of turns ; be-
sides, you must allow something more for
friction. In constructing any machine you
can vsaste power, but never make it.
C. O., Ct. — When your arbors get bent in
hardening, they can be easily and effectively
straightened by placing them on a piece of
soft iron, and striking them on the hollow side
with the pin of the hammer. Arbors should
be tempered in oil, and not by bluing, as
you practise. A more regular and uniform
temper is obtained by smearing them with
oil and burning it off.
G. B., N. K— You will find the following
formula for a solution for cleaning tarnished
silver or plated ware, as good as any that are
sold by travelling "humbugs" for a good
price. It is used and recommended by the
principal plated ware manufacturers :
Dissolve one-half pound of cyanide of po-
tassium and one-half pound salts of tartar in
one gallon soft water. Dip the tarnished ar-
ticle in the solution for a, few seconds only, and
wash with clean hot water, wipe dry with a
soft towel or chamois skin. Be careful not to
take the solution into the stomach, as it is a
deadly poison.
W. 8., Philadelphia. — We are not aware of
any small motors for sale that would answer
your purpose. There are many inventors at
work trying to perfect such machines, but it
would appear that there are difficulties to
overcome greater than any has yet been able
tp surmount. If a spring is to be used as a
source of power, why not try and construct
one yourself at your leisure hours ? The in-
telligent watchmaker is far better fitted for
arranging springs and transmitting power
through wheels and pinions, than any other
class of mechanics. Such a contrivance is
greatly wanted by others as well as by your-
self, and there is a sure fortune in it to
the man that can produce the machine de-
sired.
Y. B., 3fass. — We have but little faith in
trade secrets and have no sympathy with the
system of peddling them around. In most
cases these kinds of secrets have their founda-
tion in ignorance. Everybody ought to know
that blue can be taken from a steel surface
without repolishing it.
S. W., Virginia. — You can prevent your
steel from rusting by the action of vapors by
dissolving a given quantity of white wax in
twice its weight of benzine and applying it
with a brush.
E. B., Mich. — Such expedients are like the
various devices for lathes and tools of gentle-
men turners, wrho waste their time and cut
their fingers in ineffectual attempts to make
a box worth 25 cents, with tools that cost
$1,000. The skilful workman requires no such
aids, and you cannot accomplish your object
in any other manner than by skill and dex-
terity, acquired by study, practice, and great
perseverance.
J. C, St. Johns, N. B. — No, we have no
time ball in New York. The ball you saw at
the entrance to our Central Park is only a
signal that the ice on the ponds in the park
is safe for skating. There are.three different
methods by which the time indicated by a
standard clock is made visible to a large
number of people. In Boston the City Gov-
ernment use the city fire alarm telegraph as
a means of indicating noon, by striking one
blow on all the fire bells in the city. In
some parts of Europe a cannon is fired oft
daily at 12 or 1 o'clock by automatic machin-
ery in connection with a standard clock. In
some instances several guns many miles apart
are fired instantaneously from the same
clock by the use of the electric telegraph.
Time balls are probably the oldest methods
used for indicating the time to shipmasters
for ascertaining the rates of their chronome-
ters, if they have them on shipboard when in
port. Of all the methods, firing off a cannon
is probably the most effective, for besides
making itself visible to the senses by sound,
one who requires great accuracy can also
notice the flash of light frcm the gun, and
284
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
thereby the advantages of a time ball and
a time bell are all concentrated in a time
gun.
R. S., Jersey City. — Use benzine. It is a
better and much cheaper liquid for dissolv-
ing greasy matter than alcohol, and it does
not dissolve shellac if it be used in fastening
any parts of the instrument. See page 114
of the second volume of the Journal.
F. M., Boston. — Mr. James Queen, 64 Nas-
sau street, N. Y., can execute your order.
We had frequent occasions, as you are aware,
to use jewels of peculiar forms, and those
made by Mr. Queen were always exactly the
same as the models, and their general ap-
pearance bore the marks of an artist in his
profession.
THE HOEOLOGICAL JOUBNAL.
As nearly every subscriber to the Horolog-
ical Journal has been a reader of the two
volumes now completed, it is hardly neces-
sary to speak at length of either the past or
future. No branch of the mechanic arts can
boast of more intelligent artisans than are to
be found among the practical horologists ;
and as it is from this class that the Horolcg-
ical Journal receives its support, it is pre-
sumed that they are fully aware of whatever
of merit it may possess.
As soon as the present essay from the pen
of Mr. Grossman is completed we expect to
have the pleasure of presenting another from
the same source, as also contributions from
other noted Horologists in Europe, in addi-
tion to the best talent to be procured in our
own country. As it is universally acknowl-
edged that Mr. Grossman is the most emi-
nent Scientific and Practical Horologist now
living, his contributions possess a value that
can hardly be overestimated.
For the many complimentary messages
and kind wishes received in our daily corre-
spondence, we can find no adequate expres-
sion of gratitude in words, and can only
hope to show our appreciation thereof by a
constant effort to render the Horological
Journal still more worthy of the generous
support of the practical Horologist.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For June, 1871.
ii
a
<D
ft
a
Si
Day
of
Mon.
Sidereal
Time
of
the Semi-
diameter
Passing
the
Meridian.
Equation
of
Time to be
Subtracted
from
Equation
of
Time to be
Added to
Dlff.
for
One
Hour.
Sidereal
Time
or
Right'
Aseenskm
of
Mean Sun.
o
a
Added to
Apparent
Time.
Subtracted
from
Mean Time.
K. 8.
if. e.
■'.
E. v. s.
Th
1
68.41
2 32.05
2 32.04
0.867
4 38 6.76
Fri
?
68.47
2 23 07
2 23.05
0.383
4 42 8.31
Snf
a
68.52
2 13 71
2 13.69
0.399
4 45 59.87
Sn
4
68.57
2 3.98
2 3.96
0.414
4 49 56.43
M
t>
68.61
1 53.88
1 53.86
0.429
4 53 52.98
Tn
fi
68.66
1 43.43
1 43.42
0.443
4 57 49.54
W
7
68.70
1 32.65
1 32.65
0.456
6 1 46.10
Th
8
68.74
1 21.56
1 21.55
0.468
5 5 42.65
Fri
9
68.77
1 10.17
1 10.16
0.480
5 9 39.21
Sit
10
68.81
0 58.51
0 58.50
0.491
5 13 35.77
Sn
11
68.84
0 46.61
0 46.60
0.502
5 17 32 33
M
1?
68.88
0 34 47
0 34.46
0.511
6 21 28 89
Tti
13
68.90
0 22 11
0 22.11
0.520
5 25 25.45
W.
14
15
68.92
68.94
0 9.56
0 9.56
0.527
0.533
5 29 22.00
Th
0 3.14
0 3.14
5 33 18 58
Fri
16
68 95
0 15.97
0 15.97
0.538
5 37 15.13
Snt
17
63.96
0 28.95
0 28.93
0.542
5 41 11 68
Sn
18
68 97
0 41.96
0 41.95
0.544
5 45 8.24
M
19
68.98
0 55.04
0 55.03
0.545
5 49 4.79
Tn
90
68 98
1 8.14
1 8.13
0.545
5 53 1.35
W
?1
68.98
1 21.24
1 21.23
0.544
5 56 57.91
Th
??
68.98
1 34 32
1 34.30
0.543
6 0 54.47
Fri
n
68 97
1 47.34
1 47.31
0.540
6 4 51.03
Snt
n
68 96
2 0.27
2 0.25
0.536
6 8 47.58
Sn
?,n
68.94
2 13.10
2 13 08
0.531
6 12 44.14
AT
?6
68.92
2 25.79
2 25.77
0.525
6 16 40.70
Tn
27
68 90
2 38.32
2 38.29
0.519
6 20 37.26
W
?8
68 89
2 50.68
2 50.64
0.510
6 24 33.82
Th
99
68.86
3 2.85
3 2.82
0.503
6 28 30.37
Fri
30
68.83
3 14.80
3 14.77
0.493
6 32 26.93
Mean tim3 of the Semidiameter passing may be found by sub ■
trading 0.19s. from the sidereal time.
The Semidiameter for mean noon may be assumed the same as
hat for apparent noon.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
D. H. M.
© Full Moon 2 18 27.3
C Last Quarter 9 12 37.3
Q New Moon 17 14 29 5
) FirstQuarter 25 10 44.4
D. H.
( Perigee •- . • 2 18 1
( Apogee I6 6«2
O I II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory 42 22 48.1
H. M. S.
Long. Harvard Observatory 4 44 29 . 05
New York City Hall 4 56 0.15
Savannah Exchange 5 24 20. 572
Hudson, Ohio 5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory 5 37 58.062 •
Point Conception 8 142.64
APPARENT APPARENT MERIT}.
R. ASCENSION. DECLINATION. PASSAOB.
D. H. M. S. o ' g H- M'
Venus 1 7 31 28. 75.... + 24 3 43.1. ..'.. 2 55.4
Jupiter.... 1 6 7 52.02. .. . + 23 22 55.9 129.6
Saturn.... 1 18 86 44.16.... - 22 23 42.2 13 56.2
Horol
AMERICAN
1.
Vol. n.
NEW YORK, JUNE, 1871.
No. 12.
JOHN BLISS & CO.
STANDARD MARINE
CHRONOMETERS,
AND
REMOVED ^TO
110 WALL ST., N. Y.
IMPROVED TRANSIT INSTRUMENT
For Obtaining Correct Time.
STANDARD MARINE CHRONOMETER
For Keeping Correct Time.
We claim for our Patented Transit Instruments, as follows :
Our improvement secures adjustment in the meridian without difficulty.
Time may be taken with them, within a fraction of a second, with absolute certainty.
No previous knowledge of astronomy is required to set in position and use them.
They are beautifully finished, and are an attractive feature in a Jeweller's store.
They will repay their cost to any watchmaker in increased reputation and patronage.
j&x tracts from Zeltej-s ^Received.
"Transit works finely." — W. P. Bingham & Co., Indianapolis, Lid,
" Works to my entire satisfaction."— W. C. Danxer, Taskeegee, Ala.
Much pleased — so simple and easily adjusted.'' — Thos. H. Clapp, Lawrence, Mass.
St. Paul, Minn.
._, Port Chester, # Y.
" Tour directions are so plain, any one can readily take the time to a second."— J. H. Mulholland, Sprinqfield, 0.
" Three observations only varied half sec. Agree to one sec. of Cambridge." — C. D. P. Gibson, Boston', Mass.
Was surprised to find so little trouble. Every watchmaker should have one."— E. A. Sweet, Portsmm'dh, Ohio.
"Entirely satisfied, as I am absolutely certain of getting the correct time with it.' — E. Rowse, Augusta, Me,
PRICK SI 2 5.
Each Transit sold is guaranteed accurate as represented, or the money refunded. Oaa
application we will send Transit and Chronometer Circular, or furnish any special informa-
tion desired relating to either instrument.
JOHN BLISS h CO., 110 Wall Street, New York.
• ^Sgfefc. BOREL & COURVOISIER
J^^^M^^^^, CELEBRATED ,/1ce~**>v'
n^m^^m NICKEL WATCHES. £&$*$&
\.^PV ^J^^ ,*/ These justly celebrated Watches N^^^^^fe^^^^^
^v^^r^rFVi^^'^ "were first introduced in this country \^. <*^1^P^ ~
■ — in 1860, and have become as famous ^ilJlllIlP8^
for their excellence of performance as they are justly celebrated for time-keepers in all
the principal cities of Europe.
We can guarantee these Watches to perform with the same uniform regularity as those
made by the best manufacturers in this or the European market. We have applied all the
latest improvements to our Watches, such as full Ruby Jewelled Chronometer Balance, tem-
pered and hardened Breguet hair springs; also, adjusting them with Equilibrium Escape-
ments, all of which, to a practical man, is a warrantee that they are just what we claim,"viz.:
good as the best.
The Messrs. BOREL & COURVOISIER have taken the only prize medal granted a for-
eign manufacturer at the London Exhibition in 1862, and the grand prize at the recent
Paris Exposition of 1867. We manufacture four grades of movements: extra, 1st, 2d, and
3d quality. The movements are made of a uniform size, so that they will fit any cases made
iu gold, silver, or patent filled gold, corresponding with the models which will be furnished
by the undersigned, obviating the necessity of taking each movement apart to have cases
made — on the same principle as the American Waltham Watches. We manufacture all the
Swiss sizes, viz.: 15, 16, 17,' 18, 19, 20, and 21 lignes.
The 15, 16, and 17 are for Ladies' Watches, 18 and 19 medium for Gentlemen, 20 and
21, large gents', and designated as follows :
No. 1"( 15 ligne.
2 J-16 " First qu-ility Nickel Movement, Equilibrium Escapement, full ruby jewelled Chronometer
3 j 17 " Balance," Breguet hair spring, % pi. CUaton jewel setting for Ladies' Watches $23 00 Gold
\\\a u Same as above, medium, for Gents 23 00 "
l\l?\ it Same as above, largo fo Gents 23 00 «
8)15 "
9W6 " Same as above, with Chronometer Balance, plain ruby jewelled, plain hair spring, 2d quality, for
loj IT " Ladies' Watches , 16 00 "
j,!,,. ,i Samo as above, medium, for Gents 16 00 "
13 ) °0 "
14(21 " Same as above, large, for Gents 16 00 u
All the gents' sizes and qualities in Brass, at $2.00 less.
Gold cases in 14, 16, and 18 carat, always on hand, from 20 to 60 dwt.
Patent Gold Filled Cases, warranted to wear twenty years, from $25 to $30 each, ac-
cording to size.
PRICES OF STERLING SILVER CASES,
With Gold Joints, First Quality Workmanship, in 2, 2J, 3, 3J, and 4 oz.
No. 15, 2 oz. Sterling Silver case, gold joint, 1st quality workmanship $11 00 Gold
6,2^' " •' " 12 50 "
17.3 " j " " .• 13 50 "
18, 3>i '« " " 15 00 "
19.4 " •« " 17 25 "
When ordering any of the above Watches, be particular to mention the number on
this list.
A discount of ten per cent, on all Movements and Silver Cases. An extra discount to
dealers who will act as agents, and make it a specialty to sell them as a standard watch.
N. B. — All the first quality can be adjusted to Heat, Cold, and Position, for $25.00
currency, extra.
QUINCKE & KRTJGLES, 15 Maiden Lane (Late 8 & 10 John St.), N. Y., up stairs,
Only Wholesale Agents in the United States.
SAMUEL HOLDSWORTH,
54 Spencer Street,
CLERKENWELL, LONDON, ENGLAND,
Manufacturer of
Chronometer and "Watch Jewels, Chronometer Pallets,
Jewel Holes for Drawing "Wire to Weight, Length,
and Size, Jewels for Telegraph Purposes,
Stones for Compass Centres, Diamond
Points of every kind, Diamond and
Sapphire Files.
CHRONOMETER AND WATCH MOVEMENTS KEPT
IN STOCK, JEWELLED.
Dealer in
DIAMOND BORT, SPLINT AND POWDER, CAR-
BON AND PRECIOUS STONES.
PRIZE MEDALS:
Paris, 1867. Dub'in, 1885. Working Classes Exhibition,
Agricultural Hall, 1866. Guildhall, 1866.
HONORABLE MENTION:
later national Exhibition, 1862.
PRIZE MEDAL, PARIS EXHIBITION, 1867.
ROBERT CLAXTON,
Chronometer Jeweller.
The trade supplied with MARIXE JEWELLED MOVEMENTS,
SET HOLES, PALLETS, etc.
65 MTDDLETON STREET, CZERKENWEZZ,
ijOixriD onsr, :el o.
MONOGRAMS.
4®- SEND TO
J. SABIN & SONS,
No, 84 Nassau St., New York,
FOR THE NEW
14X3,9
It contains 1,000 Combinations and over 2,000
different Letters.
T-,. Ta. SMITH Sc GO-,
ITIUBIpEi PsbAVJUjUtj
6 Howard Street,
Between Elm and Centre, NEW YORK.
Licensed by United Nickel Company.
L. L. SMITH. Vf. S. CANTTELD.
J. EUGENE ROBERT,
2To. 5 Bond St.,
SOLE AGENT OF THE
L0NGINES WATCH FACTORY,
SWITZERLAND,
FOR THE VARIOUS GRADES OF BRASS AND
NICKEL MOVEMENTS;
ALSO CASES,
ON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM.
AGENT FOB
Celebrated Watches,
Which received the PRIZE MEDALS at the World's
Fair in London, Paris, and New York.
Bound in cloth, $7.50 ; in morocco, $3.00 ; in cloth
portfolio, leaves loose, so that they may be taken out
and designs copied, $G.50.
Sent by mail on receipt of price, or by Expresfs
C. O. D.
Gh A. HUGTTENIN,
64 Nassau Street, N. Y.,
IMPOUTEB OF
Fine Watchmakers' Tools
MATERIALS.
-0-
ALSO IMPORTER OF EVERY VARIETY OF
Freaeb C'Xocfe Haieirfali
French, Swiss, and English Files,
TOOLS FOR WATCHMAKERS, JEWELLERS,
CASE MAKERS, ENGRAVERS, CHASERS,
DIE SINKERS, MACHINISTS, Etc.
o
Special attention paid to the importation of all the
finest Tools in Watch Work.
Importer and Jobber of
Watches, CloolsLs,
GOLD AND SILVER SPECTACLES,
EOOT'S SILVER CHAINS AND EINGS,
WATCHMAKERS' AND JEWELLERS' TOOLS,
Materials, Etc.
Orders by mail, express, or freight, promptly filled.
CAIRO, ILL.
• CHARLES SPIRO,
WBvAtln m& &tammtkx ffkte,
No. 33 John Street,
Corner Nassau, KEW Y0EK.
Hair Springs, Jewels and Wheels Made to Order.
Since this improved style of PATENTED WATCHES was
first offered to the trade, they have been rapidly winning
fame, for substantial simplicity, fine finish, and accurate
performance, being made by a new process, combining in-
telligent labor with our AMERICAN MACHINERY, so as to
obtain a superior article in every respect.
We urgently solicit a full examination of their merit and
beauty, as they are made both in Nickel and Gilt, of the
best materials and most desirable sizes to suit the modern
taste.
Two sizes, 19 and 20 for Gentlemen, and two smaller sizes,
15 and 16 for Ladies.
AGENCIES :
Philadelphia-E. PAULUS, 714 Chestnut St.
New York-G. A. HUGUENIN, 64 Nassau St.
Casing blocks furnished on application. Price Lists sent on
application by enclosing business card.
FREUND, GOLDSMITH & CO.,
8 MAIDEN LANE,
P. O. BOX 1143. zete-w -ronn:.
IMPORTERS OF
if %j& <*-* WW JRL* vALA >JA<1L. <m> ftp
WATCH MATERIALS, TOOLS, GLASSES, SPECTACLES, OPERA GLASSES,
OPTICS, MOROCCO AND VELVET JEWELRY AND WATCH BOXES.
AGENTS FOR THE CELEBRATED
GRAVIER'S AND DENNISON'S STANDARD MAINSPRINGS.
THE BEST
*ica:
ARE MADE BY THE
ISTE'V^ YORK
At Springfield, Mass.
The Company are now making the following § plate
4> movements, named :
'JOHN L. KINC,"
"H. C. NORTON,"
"HOMER FOOT,"
"ALBERT CLARK,"
"J. A. BRICCS."
A low price full plate movement will be ready in April.
Send business card for price list.
MeBsrs. Richard Oliver k Balest, General Agents New York Watch Co. :
Gentlemen,— One of your £ plate Watches, named " H. G. Norton," which we bought of yon in the early
part of November last, we ran for four weeks by Dudley Observatory time, and it varied only one second
duriuc* that time. We also ran one of your Albert Clark movements, and it ran nearly as close.
W. H. WILLIAMS & SON.
Albany, Feb. Uth, 1871.
AMERICAN HOEOLOGIC.iL JOURNAL,
PTTBLISHED MONTHLY BT
C3-. B. MILLEB,
229 Broadway, 2T. T.,
At $1.50 per Year, payable in advance,
A limited number of Advertisements connected
with the Trade, and from reliable Houses, will be
received.
B@°" Mr. Morritz Grossmann, Olashutte,
Saxony, is authorized to receive subscriptions, or
transact any business for this Journal.
SST" Mr. J. Herrmann, 21 Northampton
Square, E. C, London, is our authorized Agent
for Great Britain.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B. MILLER,
P. 0. Box 6715, New York.
H. H. HEINRICH & CO.,
IMPORTEES OP
Fine Watches and Chronometers.
REPAIRING OF WATCHES CAREFULLY DONE.
HAIRSPRIXG3 for Pocket and Marine Chronometers. ESCAPE-
MENTS and all difficult parts of Watches made to order and per-
fectly executed. Watches adjusted in ditTurent positions and
temperatures.
Our first quality Watche3 are equal to the best regulatod Watches
gold in the United States.
A large stock of New and Second-hand
MARINE CHRONOMETERS,
especially for Watchmakers.
NEW. YORK,
h. h. nro-RicH, \S & 10 JOHN STREET, up Stairs,
31 House from Broadway.
7. W. C. NIEBERG.
CHS. WM. SCHUMANN,
IMPOETEE OF
FINE W4fOHlf
giamawte and diamond Kewrtrjj,
Agent of Lange's Movements,
42 & 44 NASSAU ST., up Stairs,
Uear thePost-Office, NEW YORK.
CHRONOMETERS AND WATCHES
MADE, REPAIRED, AND ADJUSTED.
Chronometer and Watch Repairing,
The undersigned wishes to say to the trade, that
chronometers and fine watches sent to him for repairs
or adjustment, will not only be promptly attended to,
but also satisfactorily done, and at reasonable prices.
THEO. G-RIBI,
Wilmington, Del
9UPERFINE
Manufactured by
BENJAMIN H. TISDALE,
Newport, R. I.
Having had fifty-six years experience at the bench as a
practical Watchmaker, and thirty years as a Watch Oil Manu-
facturer, I can recommend my Oil as being equal to any in
the market — and in support of this I have the testimony of
Mr. Jacob M. Crooker, Waterville, Me. Messrs. Farring-
ton & Co., Prov., R. I. Mr. H. W. Pray, Newport, R. I.
Mr. J. Marshall Hall, Newport, R. I. Mr. Hempsted, New
London, Conn. Mr. Bottom, New York City. Mr. H.
Houpt, Cairo, 111.
The above are all noted as standing at the head of their
profession.
I have the Waltham Watch Co. for three years.
KELLY'S
Unparalleled Watchmakers' Tools,
CONSISTING OP
New MAIN-SPRING WINDER,
" SOLDERING KIT,
" COMBINED HAND TONG and HAIRSPRING
STUD PUSHER.
Sand for Illustrated Circular with price to
W. Z>. KELLY, Cadiz, Ky.
J. ^L . A. B R Y,
Importer and Manufacturer of
FINE "WATCHES,
Sole Agents for
YACHERON & CONSTANTIN'S
CELEBRATED GENEVA WATCHES.
SPECIALTY :
Nickel Movements of all Sizes and Grades.
No. 63 Nassau St., New York.
P. 0. BOX 611.
L. & E. MATHEY,
Importers of
EINE WATCHES,
"Watch Case Manufacturers,
Sole Agents for
H. L. MATILE'S w23SS3»
Which we have in all its vaiieties, such as independ-
ent J and £ seconds, chronographs, minute
repeaters, etc., in key and
stem winders.
No. 119 Fulton Street, New YorJe.
AMERICAN SILVER CHAINS
FOB
AMERICAN SILVER WATCHES.
A beautiful Photograph of Chains and Kings
made by
A. L ROOT & CO.,
Jlfeditia, Ohio.
Sent to the Trade, on application, with business card.
3D, ^r-A.LEnSTTHSTE,
Syracuse, K. Y.,
IMPORTER AXD DEALER IN FIXE
GOLD AND SILVER WATCHES,
SOLE AGENT IN THE UNITED STATES
FOR THE SALE OF
M. Grossmann's (of Dresden, Saxony)
CELEBRATED WATCHES,
KEY AND STEM WINDING-, WITH PATENT
REGULATORS ;
Fine Astronomical Kegulators,
MtcnOMETEftS,
For Watchmakers' use, measuring to the Ten Thousandth
part of an Inch ;
ALSO,
DETECTIVE TIMEPIECES
FOR FACTORIES
Where Niirht Watchmen are employed, showing their
faithfulness, giving security to parties employing
them that no other machine does.
THE ABOVE GOODS WHOLESALE and EETAIL.
To the Trade.
The success and popularity which has attended the introduction
of English's Patent "Watch Keys, and the appreciation of the Trade
and the public generally, for a well finished, perfect, and reliable
Key, has induced the manufacturer to give to his customers the
benefit of any and all improvements which may be made upon the
Key, without extra charge; relying upon hia increased sales for *
remuneration.
He would therefore announce to the Trade that he has made ar-
rangements (at a large expense) to have all Keys made by him af-
ter this date.
3>TIO
X3Xi
PIjATEID,
by a new process recently invented, and approved by the U. S.
Ordnance Department, for its great durability for the plating of
Fire Arms, Swords, etc.
Nickel Plating effectually prevents Rust, and retains a bright
and beautiful finish. Its durability exceeds that of any other style
of Plating, being much harder than Silver or even Iron.
CAUTION. — Parties purchasing will be careful to observe
that they are the genuine " English's Patent Watch Key." Every
Key is stamped upon inside of bow (Pat. Mar. 26th, 1867). Sundry
parlies having imported and introduced (In direct violation of the
Laws of the United States) a worthless imitation of my Key, I
would hereby caution the Trado and public to beware of these base
imitations. And all persons purchasing or selling the imitation
Key render themseives liable to action for infringement, and will
be held personally responsible for the same. And to further guard
against these fraudulent productions, on and after this date, every
card of one dozen Keys will bear a/ac timile of the signature of the
proprietor.
A liberal HI-'M'ARD is hereby offered to any person who
will give information which will lead to the conviction of any party
infringing upon "English's Pat. Watch Key," cither by importa-
tion, manufacture, or sale of an imitation Key, and all persons so
doing will be dealt with according to law, and will be held respon-
sible for any damage such sales may, have been to the proprietor.
A liberal discount and special terms to jobbers. Address
Nov., 1870.
B. C. ENGLISH,
Springfield, Mass.
BUfiBANK BEOTHEES,
MANUFACTURERS OF
SPECTACLES .AND EYE-GLASSES
OP ALL DESCRIPTIONS, IN
GOLD, SILVER, STEEL, RUBBER, AND SHELL!
GOLD .AJCTJO SILVER THIMBLES,
SOLID GOLD RINGS.
ALSO IMP0ETER8 OF ALL KINDS OF
OPTICAL G-OODS
Xo. J I MA7J>V.y T.AVE.
/Waltb&m
In soliciting anew the public patronage of Watches of domestic production, the
American Watch Company respectfully represent :
That no fact in the history of manufactures is more completely demonstrated than
that the best system of making Watches is the one first established by them at
"Waltham. That system always had the warrant of reason and common sense, and
now the test of time in the trial of the Watches themselves cannot be denied to have
been ample and satisfactory. It is admitted on every hand — the evidence of daily ob-
servation and common repute — that the Watches not only keep correct time, but that
as machines they endure. It should seem that nothing more is needed but that their
sizes, shapes, and appearance should suit the tastes of the people. As to all these
conditions the American Watch Company are now fully prepared to answer the exac-
tions of the market. They confidently assert there is no longer any need for such
reasons to import watches of any description whatever. Every size in ordinary de-
mand, every shape and every variety of finish and decoration, may now be had. And
as to price, the recent reductions leave no room for doubt that the Waltham system of
Watch-making is the most economical as well as the most reliable, and that the Wal-
tham Watch is the cheapest as well as the best.
Many new varieties of movements have been added during the last year, all of
which display the latest improvements in design and finish, and evince the rapid pro-
gress the Company is making toward perfection in the art. Among these the new
small size Watch, for Boys and young gentlemen, is to be specially noted. A very
low price has been made for this Watch because it is a boy's watch, and with the ob-
ject of bringing it within the means of boys of all classes. Price being considered, no
such watch, in quality and beauty, has ever, in any country, been produced.
The "Crescent-street" full plate Watch, added during the last year, is now made
either with or without stem-winding and setting attachment. This Watch, in either
form, the Company challenges all manufacturers of all countries to beat or equal for
its price. It is made with all the latest improvements in every part — improvements
which improve — and which not only make it better for its purposes as a timekeeper,
but will make it the great favorite with watch-makers. This, the highest grade of full
plate watches made in this countiy, in size and appearance, in finish, and general ex-
cellence, is especially intended for and recommended to business men, and in particu-
lar to Railway and Express men, to constant travellers — in fact, to all live men who
must be told by their watches the correct time of day whenever they want it. All such
men should have the "American Watch Co . , Crescent-street." Counting on such des-
tination for this variety of their manufacture, the Company devote the greatest care to
its construction, employ upon it only their best men and best machinery, and issue it
with their reputation at stake upon its success.
For sale by all leading jewellers. No watches retailed by the Company.
For all other facts address
ROBBINS & APPLETON,
General Agents for American Watch Co., 182 Broadway, N. ¥.
TO THE WATCH TRADE.
We are prepared to execute all kinds of difficult
Watch of Chronometer Repairing,
including replacing any defective parts.
JOHN BLISS & CO.,
MAMACTMERS OF CHROMOMETERS,
110 Wall Street, N. Y.
Diamond and Carbon-Pointed Tools
FOB
Watch and Pencil-Case Makers, Bank Note Engravers,
Lithographers, Mieroscropie, Horological, Meteorological, Sci-
entific, and other Mechanical Purposes, Made to Order.
IMPORTER OP
DIAMOND BORT, SPLINTS, DUST, CAEBON, Ac.
Also, Manufacturer of Glazier's Diamonds and Spectacle
Glass Diamonds. Old Diamonds Re-set, Re-ground, and
Polished.
itii wnmwMmMmw®
6d Nassau St., If. T.
ESTABLISHED IN ENGLAND 1796. IN AMERICA 1810
Giles, Wales & Co.,
13 MAIDEN LANE, NEW YOEK,
(Salesroom in Clilcago, 111., GIJL.ES, BRO. & CO., 14=3 DLiake Street.)
I?npo?'ters , Manufacturers, and Jobbers oj
FINE WATCHES, DIAMONDS, and JEWELRY,
^o!td £itwr Wim, and jsilocr $lated Wan.
SALESROOM OF THE
MANUFACTURERS of all the grades of AMERICAN WATCHES, Pendant Winders
and Key Winders. The finer grades all having three pairs Conical Pivots, Cap Jewelled, in
Gold Settings, and accurately adjusted to Heat, Cold and Position, and all, even in the
cheapest grades, have the Straight Line Escapement, with Exposed Pallet Jewels, and hard-
ened and tempered Hair Springs ; and for our late improvement in Stem Winding mechan-
ism we claim a Strength, Simplicity, and Smoothness, hitherto unattained in any other
manufacture, at home or abroad. Constantly on hand, full lines, all sizes, in Gold, Silver,
Diamond Set and Magic Cases, 1-4 Seconds, 1-5 Seconds, Split Seconds, for taking three
different times. Stem Winding Repeaters, striking the Hours, Quarters, and Minutes, with
1-4 or 1-5 Seconds combined.
Nkw York. Jan. 17th, 1870.
Watch No. 1089 — bearing Trade Mark, "Frederic Atherton &
Co., Marion, N. J.," manufactured by Dinted States Watch Co. , has
been carried by me from Dec., 1868, to Jan. 17th, 1870; its total
rariation being only two seconds in the entire time.
L. E. CHITTENDEN,
Late Register U. S. Treasury.
Watcb No. 1124 — bearing Trade Mark, "Frederic Atherton &
Co." manufactured by the Unit?d States Watch Co., has been car-
ried by me seven months; its total variation from mean time be-
ing only six seconds.
A. L. PEVNT9. Pros. N. J. R. R * T. <~\
Watch No. 1251 — bearing Trade Mark, "Frederic Atherton &
Co., Marion, N. J.," manufactured by United States Watch Co., has
been carried by me four months; its total variation from mean
time being only five seconds per month.
F. A. HASKELL,
Con. Hudson River R. R,
Watch No. 1037 — bearing Trade Mirk, "Frederic Atherton &
Co., Marion, N. J.." manufactured by United States Watch Co., has
been carried by me since June, 1867; its total variation from meaa
tima being only five seeonds per month.
HENRY ="ITH,
Tr--* •> ■ <'«-■ '' ■' * '•' ?t.-?"<t.
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